Life is undoubtedly more difficult in the Karnali region, a zone where the problems are many, including transportation, health, education, industry and commerce. This is a story of the most remote part of Karnali, Mugu district, where people have to pay more than Rs 100 for a packet of salt and everyday is a visible struggle for existence and livelihood.
Food and shelter is the priority for most so how can people think of education and other needs when they have no food or shelter? Children are obliged to dropout of school because of great poverty. Consequently, they have to work to generate income by collecting yarsagumba.
State of women
It is not only children, women are oppressed and marginalised within family and in society. The practice chaupadi is still prevalent, even though many NGOs and INGOs are working to combat such practices. Women are still forced to heavy household work, often even when they are pregnant. Women work with babies strapped to their backs and there is little time to raise children properly. Similarly, the pain of Dalit women is unquantifiable.
However, this situation is gradually changing as different stakeholders and line agencies are conducting many awareness programmes in coordination. This symbolises the fact that we have only done a little; much more remains to be done for social change and community development. And definitely, the day will come when Dalits and non-Dalits sit together in the same house and discuss the agendas of progressive changes and transformation in society.
Similarly, health concerns are paramount. But the people of Karnali do even have proper access to primary treatment. The situation is terrible when a pregnant woman loses their life while delivering a child. For treatment, they are compelled to come to Nepalgunj. Otherwise, treatment is only a dream as there are no transportation facilities, expect the rare flight at Talcha Airport. And this flight too, is beyond the financial capabilities of the residents of this region.
No political representation
For the most underdeveloped region in the country, Karnali does not even have access to the political mechanism. It is a great failure of the political parties that they were not able to select the CA members through a proportional electoral system representing equal participation from all districts. This has effectively excluded Karnali voices from the constitution. This kind of political exclusion from the national mainstream is not good for development and must be rectified as soon as possible.
Despite all these problems, Karnali has many potentialities. It is a land of timber and apples and walnuts. Karnali has the potential to be a rich land in terms of income generation. But the government must first ensure access to markets for cash crops. This can only be done through the expansion of transportation facilities and an increase in road access.
The political parties have played their games using Karnali as a backdrop. But they are reluctant to see the real oppression of these people here. The urgent need now is well-maintained roads and transportation. No facilities can be available without the construction of roads. The government needs to engineer progressive plans and polices to address local issues and capitalise on local products and potentialities.
Rijal has been working as a social activist in the Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre
2
Many villagers residing in far-flung areas of Nepal are still deprived of decent road transport facilities and basic health care. However, they are digitally linked to the world through their cellphones and laptop. Thanks to foreign employment for this. It has been a while since young people whether from the city or rural areas began flying abroad either for higher education or for employment. And if we are to forget
about the sufferings of workers abroad, particularly in the Gulf, labour migration has changed the way people live in rural areas. Most people in the villages now own a cellphone, laptop and even have access to the internet to stay in touch with their loved ones abroad. Technology has now become an integral part of life.
Videochat from the village
Recently I got a chance to video-chat with a women residing in Far-West Nepal. Thanks to her husband, a migrant worker at Dubai, who had bought her a laptop and an android phone. Thus, without even leaving her village is now connected to the world outside through the internet which was unthinkable previously. People travelling to the villages will frequently notice that places without a proper health post have houses with televisions and expensive cellphones. They have easy access to the internet too. People use Facebook, Viber and Skype and one can see them chatting on their cellphone while at their farms or while
doing household chores. Foreign employment and remittance has thus changed the way we communicate and live. In addition, through the internet people also have instant and immediate access to the information happening all over the world.
No jobs
Each year around half a million youths enter the job market in Nepal and most do not find any work. Foreign employment is the only option for them. And given that the prospects of job creation in the immediate future look bleak, foreign labour migration will continue to be youth’s choice for many years to come. Therefore, the government should extend its necessary support and explore new lucrative markets for the Nepali workers.
Remittances will continue to play a significant role in improving the living standards of millions of Nepalis for many years to come. However, the government and policymakers must also understand that foreign employment is not a long-term solution. In the long run, remittance should be utilised for capital formation. If the ongoing trend of spending remittance on imported goods
is not changed, the prospects of job creation will worsen. Nepal became a country
without youth and their productiveness in near future. Therefore, the time has come to think about the best utilisation of remittance that enters the country.
3 The unprecedented lack of mutual trust between two major parties—Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML—that surfaced in the past weeks does not bode well for the enactment of a new constitution within a year as pledged by most of the parties in the second Constituent Assembly (CA). Needless to say, a collective lack of trust was the main factor behind the failure of the first CA.
It is most unfortunate for Nepal that the parties have been unable to rise above their respective party interests. More disgusting is the fact that leaders seem to find pleasure in stifling the wishes of the people. The people’s verdict was in favour of collaboration among parties. A consensus government would have been the most appropriate agency to do so. But as that failed, the next viable option would have been with the formation of a government including parties with democratic credentials. So the proposed coalition between the NC and UML with the support of some small parties was an obvious choice. But what followed was political wragling between the parties over the allotment of attractive ministries, the Home Ministry being the primary bone of contention.
Fight for home
The NC and UML are not only the largest parties in the Assembly but also have the longest collective experience of running government. Although the NC leader-cum-Prime Minister Sushil Koirala lacks experience of an administrative role, he has around him more than a dozen ex-PM, deputy PMs and ministers with varying experiences of running the government. They could have easily helped the PM handle the Home Ministry debate, which was obstructing the formation of a coalition government. One can’t help but wonder if somebody first lied about the NC negotiators promising the Home Ministry to the UML. But this incident embarrased the PM who was under internal pressure (or perhaps external pressure) to not hand over the ministry to the UML. Thus, Koirala denied the NC making any such offer to the UML. If some of his colleagues had lied to him, it was the wrong strategy because the new PM could not only have lost face before the UML, but also the world at large. On the other hand, if the
UML made the claim without any assurance from the NC, it would lose its image as a responsible national party. The public needs to know where the dirty trick started.
Lame logic
Let us examine some underlying myths in this episode. One NC General Secretary declared that there is a practice of the Home Ministry being kept under the party whose leader heads the government as PM. This is not coroborated by facts. In the Cabinet led by Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, Bijay Gachhadar of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik was the Home Minister. Bamdev Gautam of the UML was also a Deputy PM and Home Minister even when the PM was of a different party.
Another myth is that when both the PM and the Home Ministry is held by the same party, it can makes governance easier. Krishna Sitaula held the ministry under PM Girija Koirala when the first CA election was held. The PM needs to mantain cordial coordination with the Home Minister. If untrustworthy, the PM has the right to fire the minister immediately.
The core principle of a coalition culture is that the PM upholds the autonomy of the cooperating party and the latter does not infringe on the supervisory power of the PM. So one reason behind the initial denial of the ministry to Bamdev Gautam was the fear that he might monopolise the local election results as he allegedly did 16 years ago. But such fears are the worst in coalition politics. The new government has pledged to hold local elections within six months to fill the political void at the local level.
Local elections, however, are not conducted by the Home Minister and there are several checks and balances in the electoral process. If held, other parties participating in the local elections will not tolerate the administrative interference, if there is any. People who preside over the election machinery are not subservient to the Home Ministry or its district level agencies, the Chief District Officer and the police in particular. There is free press and there will be election observers. Finally, there will be civil society and human right activists who pledge to be neutral. Our democratic process is getting stronger and richer in experience. So, it is naive to assume that the Home Minister alone can monopolise the results of the local election.
Stick together
The fiasco has now been resolved and Gautam has been declared the Home Minister. However, the debate did not just delay the formation of the government but also provided a peek into the problems in formulation of the constitution. With regard to the content of the constitution, the NC and UML’s positions were close, if not identical. And this was one reason why the people trusted them this time, rather than the extreme left. But if differences between the two grow, they could side with the extreme left. This will not only create ideological incompatibility but will also make it harder to reach consensus on several aspects of constitution making. Single ethnic identity-based federalism is one; regionalism, like a single Madhes, is another. This could greatly hamper the process of reaching consensus on the issue of federalisation.
There are some extremists in every party but there also are moderates in each one of them. There are experienced, prudent, emotionally balanced and ideologically sound leaders both in the NC and the UML. So it would be wise for the PM to take help from such leaders and use them as sincere emissaries to negotiate with moderate leaders in the UML. This would help dispel the crisis of confidence and aid consitution writing. It is in the interest of the country that the coalition works, at least until the constitution is finalised. Any other coalition will be disastrous.
4 Agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood for a majority of Nepali people and it holds tremendous potential for poverty alleviation. However, agriculture in Nepal is still practiced mainly for subsistence. Ever since the evolution of planned development in the country, way back in 1956, agriculture has been accorded top priority, at least on paper by successive governments. Emphasis has always been given to the modernisation of agriculture and the use of improved technology. Most non-governmental actors—NGOs/ INGOs—too have been engaged in this business for a long time. However, nobody seems to have realised that simply supporting the production aspect of agriculture may not be enough for this sector to become competitive, especially when we are talking about the commercialisation of agriculture.
In this context, it is imperative to focus our attention on agribusiness management. We should start thinking of agriculture as a serious business and only can that solve the growing problem of unemployment and poverty. Commercialising the sector is a remedy for reducing growing trade deficit and most importantly, to feed the people of the country, which comes under the sovereign right of the people under the Interim Constitution and is expected to be included in the future constitution as well.
Business of agriculture
Despite the importance of agribusiness management in the country, it is very difficult to get a complete picture of it. Very little has been done by either the government, private sector or non-governmental organisations in this area. The Government of Nepal has since long realised the significance of agribusiness management and even brought a National Agriculture Policy 2004 to address the concerns of agribusiness. Following this, the Agribusiness Policy 2006 and Agribusiness Policy Implementation Procedure was formulated in 2008. An agribusiness promotion cell was opened in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative (MoAC). Now, there is a Marketing Development Directorate under the Department of Agriculture, which is mostly responsible for agribusiness management for the government.
The interest of the private sector on the promotion of agribusiness and its management is not that old. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is promoting projects like One Village One Product, which can be considered as a step towards that end. International non-governmental organisations like SNV, USAID, SDC have been engaged in commercialisation and promotion of agribusiness for a long time. However, despite the involvement of many organisations in this sector through different names and brands, its outcome and impact is yet not visible.
Acts, no actions
The various acts formulated by the government have mostly been confined to paper. Apart from making a few marketing outlets, declaring few commodities as export oriented and giving subsidies to few agriculture commodities, no substantial work has been done by concerned authorities. There are many flaws in the policies, such as there is no concept of complete chain management right from production up to consumption of any product. Marketing, production and distributions are viewed as separate entities in the whole chain management and its relationships are not considered. As a result, both producers (in our case mostly poor farmers) and consumers (mostly common people) are suffering. It is the intermediaries who does not add any value to the product (rather they reduce value) but are benefiting the most. By now, the government should have established chain management for most agro products and provided the necessary facilitation or intervention wherever required. While the private sector has done some wonderful work on agribusiness management, their activities have mostly been confined to limited areas and
people. Their work doesn’t have a wide circulation or wide effect.
In a gist, there is a complete
lack of coordination among the actors in agribusiness management in the country.
Money and manpower
In India, commercial banks give a sizeable loan to farmers for the development of agribusiness; in fact, they have agribusiness departments or sections in most commercial banks that look after the agriculture portfolio. The situation is completely different in Nepal. Private commercial banks do not provide loans to agribusiness schemes. For them, agriculture is not a priority. Had they emulated Indian banks, the state of agriculture in Nepal might have been very different.
Another sad reality in agriculture is that Nepal still lacks manpower in agribusiness management. In all other nations, the course of agribusiness management is very popular among students and the course is designed by government universities to suit local needs. It is good to see that HICAST (affiliated to Purbanchal University) has realised this importance and now provides the first-ever course at the higher level in agribusiness management. The Government of Nepal must recognise its importance and make immediate plans to recruit agribusiness experts. The private sector, in particular the banks, should also start providing loans to the agricultural sector.
Trade to sustain
In this age of trade and commerce, there is a reason why experts call for trade rather than aid. With an ever-increasing trade deficit, we have no alternative than to reduce that gap without exporting our potential agro products. We need a strong and ethical business culture in agriculture, for which agribusiness management is key. This is also the best means to raise livelihoods and alleviate poverty at a faster rate, as envisioned by the Millenium Development Goals. The living standards of hundreds of our farmers, poor and marginalised and residing in rural areas, can be raised. Agribusiness holds immense potential, as can be seen in youths who have returned from the Gulf countries and taken it up as a profession. The concerned authorities just need to create a favourable environment for it.
Pandey works at the Poverty Alleviation Fund
4 Owing to the rapid development of scientific technology, many people have today good access to different varieties of information resources. Of these, over the past decades, there has been a massive increase in the use of the internet. It is now an important part of our global culture. Due to its immense impact on human society, the internet is also being seen as a bright future for some. Although it is taken as a global communication system, many people are not content with its supplements, and thus, globally there has been a lot of talk about its censorship.
Governments and censorship
Since it first began in 1969 as ARPANET, a project sponsored by the US government, the internet has been expanding and evolving. Subsequently, government monitoring and regulations have also increased, with a number of countries restricting and censoring the internet in many ways. Censorship has universal appeal because it is a useful method to prevent users from creating ‘objectionable’ content and also keeping them from viewing online content that might violate social norms and values. Supporting this view, Craig Depken, associate professor at the University of Texas, states that “censorship is the moral or legislative process by which society ‘agrees’ to limit what an individual can do, say, think, or see”. The proponents of internet censorship, therefore, justify that managing or controlling online information is for the greater social benefit.
In order to address this ongoing issue, several research works have been carried out. But there is no common consensus on attitudes towards censoring the internet since different nation view it in different ways. The Communist government of China, for instance, exercises strict control over access to political and social issues and blocks many blogs and websites such as Wikipedia and Facebook. Similarly, British Prime Minister David Cameron declared, “We will block all online materials the British government deems objectionable and the users who wish to view ‘objectionable’ materials will have to opt in”. In purported support of children’s psychology and cognitive behaviour, the US Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) in 1998, asserting that those who publish pornography and other content deemed “harmful to minors” should limit access by using some form of age verification.
Looking closer at these cases, one could argue that every government has different motives for censoring online content. However, most technologically developed countries, including the US, Britain, China, Australia and Turkey, have agreed to censor some kinds of content relating to pornography, violence, terrorism, drug abuse, child abuse, gambling and political and religious affairs.
Banning pornography
Much research has identified a large proportion of people in favour of censoring pornographic and sexually explicit content. Even my own research, entitled ‘Attitudes of Overseas Students towards the Internet Censorship (2014)’ indicates that 80 percent of informants put down “pornography” as a major facet of online censorship. Similarly, a 2008 study by Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and Hasan Ozkan and Arda Arikan, research students of Hacettepe University, Turkey, came with 87 percent and 59 percent respectively in favour of forbidding online pornographic content.
If we analyse these figures, we can say that extreme exposure to such content not only violates the socio-cultural values of users but also stimulates them to commit rape and prostitution. A 1999 study by Azy Barak of the University of Haifa, Israel claims that exposure to extreme forms of internet pornography is one of the reasons behind why women are sexually abused by their male counterparts. Therefore, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Kenya, India, Cuba and China all ban pornography in some forms.
Violence and the internet
Violent content is another target that many people think should be controlled. In Fallows’ study, for example, 86 percent of Chinese agreed with banning violent content. My research has also highlighted such content as more dangerous and misleading than others. I still recall the devastating tragedy that Nepal faced in 2004 due to the widespread tragic news of the murder of 12 Nepalis in Iraq. Kathmandu would probably not have been in flames—caused by the extreme anger and aggression of thousands of Nepali towards the government and manpower companies—if a videotape showing the beheading of two Nepalis by Islamic militants was controlled.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon to hear that some people have been victimised due to online blackmailing and scandal in developing countries since the Internet can lure users into building wrong kinds of relationships. There are often news reports of people losing big amounts of money through online scams.
But even as the number of censored websites increases throughout the world, the voices of users and human rights activists are also rising against censorship. Some months back, the Turkish police used water cannons and fired teargas to disperse hundreds of protesters gathering at a rally against internet censorship laws. While online information might be deemed offensive to some users and acceptable to others, the strong desire of governments to limit access to such content is at the heart of debate.
Therefore, along with large scale research and analyses of the situation, new approaches to regulating online content should be developed by authorities to create a safe, secure and free way to access information, which should be seen as not an option but a necessity in today’s world. For this, all internet users and concerned entities, including the government, Internet providers, parents, and Internet cafes should be band together for regulations that are acceptable to all.
Sijapati is pursuing a Master’s in International Relations at Macquarie University, Australia
5 Secularism is a political ideology with a set of normative claims as to the relation between the state and religion. My understanding of secularism is based on two premises. First, political secularism means the state has no religion at all. Second, social secularism denotes religion entering into the domain of the individual private sphere from the public sphere so no one can interfere in it.
Nepal was declared a Hindu kingdom by the 1964 Constitution and the Panchayat system further demonstrated Nepal as a Hindu kingdom at the global level and created a nationalist feeling. This scenario continued more or less. Subsequently, however, pro-secularism voices were often heard from the Maoists. On February 4, 1996, Baburam Bhattarai and Pampha Bhusal submitted a 40-point memorandum to then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, which include the suspension of Nepal as a Hindu state and declaring it secular. Since the insurgency, secularism has been a political agenda of the Maoists and it later became part of the historic 12-point agreement.
When Nepal was declared a secular state by the 2007 Interim Constitution, voices of dissatisfaction were often heard. However, after the demise of the first Constituent Assembly (CA), the issue of secularism hasn’t been raised by the major political parties, whereas the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal led by Kamal Thapa, who contested the election on an anti-secularism plank, emerged as the fourth major political party in the second CA. Besides Kamal Thapa, none of the other political parties have openly opposed a secular state. And secularism was a political agenda of only the Maoists. After the 2006 Janaandolan, it seemed secularism became a political agenda of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML
too, not by choice but as a result of political bargaining.
Illusionary secularism
It has been more than five years since Nepal turned into a secular state. But it has remained so in theory, only because the head of state and other government office bearers still follow traditional Hindu rituals. Similarly, a provision in the Muluki Ain remains unchanged. Number 11 of Chapter 7 states that a person who knowingly kills a cow shall be jailed for 12 years. The punishment for instigating the killing of a cow is six months in jail. We have been practicing secularism in theory but not in practice. The achievement of a secular Nepal so far has been that the number of Hindu holidays has declined and the government has declared holidays for the indigenous communities, Christians and Muslims as public ones. According to the 2011 census, 10 major religions are practiced in Nepal, among which Hinduism is followed by 81.3 percent of the population. Buddhism, Islam, Kirat, Christianity and Prakriti are followed by 9 percent, 4.4 percent, 3.1 percent, 1.4 percent and 0.5 percent of the population, respectively.
The 1959 Constitution of Nepal upheld the principle of equality and gave citizens the freedom to practice and profess their own religion. However, the 1962 Constitution declared Nepal a Hindu kingdom. The question is why was there a need to declare Nepal a Hindu kingdom? There could be three reasons. First, maintaining the identity of the country as Hindu. Second, as the 1962 Constitution has mentioned the king as being an adherent of the Hindu religion, declaring Nepal a Hindu kingdom would symbolise king’s rule. Third, the 1960s were a period when lots of Christian missionaries came to Nepal. So it could be that the state was afraid that they would encourage religious conversion and felt the need to assert Nepal as a Hindu kingdom.
After the declaration of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom, the new Muluki Ain was promulgated, which removed to some extent discrimination on the basis of religion and caste. But demands to turn Nepal into a secular state were not heard often. This scenario continued till 1990. When the 1990 Constitution was being drafted, the Nepal Buddhist Association called for a secular state by organising a demonstration on the streets of Kathmandu. However, its demand was rejected and the 1990 Constitution declared Nepal a multiethnic, multilingual, democratic, independent, sovereign Hindu constitutional monarchical kingdom.
It is often argued that secularism promotes political protection of religious minorities. It is also believed that secularism brings a sense of security and equity to religious minorities. Perhaps religious minorities view a secular state as the guardian of minority rights against the religious majority.
However, it’s not easy for Nepal to implement secularism as the concept itself has so many approaches, which has led to different models of secularism. It’s very unfortunate that political parties have not realised the importance of debating secularism.
Common questions
During conversations among Hindu citizens, I have come across a few common voices regarding the way of life under secularism in Nepal, and the discussion ends with a few unanswered questions: (1) What will be the fate of secularism in new Nepal?; (2) Even if secularism is promulgated though the new constitution, will the rituals being followed for years continue?; (3) Will people accept a Muslim leader as the President and continue to take blessings from him during the Dashain festival?; (4) Will a Muslim leader, if President, continue to follow the ritual of giving blessings during Dashain, which is considered to be the biggest Hindu festival?; and (5) Even though Hinduism has been followed and practiced overwhelmingly, didn’t other religions receive considerable respect in the past?
The basic idea behind secularism is keeping the state away from religion. So the question is does the state become secular once it is kept away from religion or if society is secularised as well? In a county where 80 percent of the people are Hindu, the idea of imposing a secular state would only lead to a secular state, not secular citizens. Therefore, Nepal’s non-Hindu citizens do not have a desire for secularism.
However, the people’s representatives believe that a modern constitution needs a secular state. So Nepal needs a model of secularism that unites the nation, and for this, serious debates on the model of secularism are required. But recent developments show that the political parties are not willing to discuss this issue and it is likely to be sidelined. Thus, hoping for debates on the model of secularism in Nepal in the CA seems to be futile.
6 It’s been an honor to visit Nepal and have the opportunity to see firsthand the extraordinary progress of one of USAID’s closest development partners. I met local scientists who are harnessing satellite remote sensing data to help communities adapt to climate change—so that farmers can estimate crop yields and plan ahead. And I presented an award to the Ministry of Health for its leadership in adopting innovative health solutions like chlorhexidine—a life-saving medical gel that was created right here in Nepal and has cut the risk of infant death by 23 percent.
Halving poverty
It is not hard to see why Nepal is only one of just eight fragile states to have successfully halved extreme poverty ahead of the 2015 target for the Millennium Development Goal. In just seven years, between 2003 and 2011, the extreme poverty rate fell from 53 percent to 24.8 percent. This enables a new generation of Nepali children to grow up in dignity and security—knowing they’ll have a fair shot in their future.
Thanks to a history of progress and new advances in science and technology, Nepal stands within reach of ending extreme poverty and securing a foundation for long-term economic growth. But this future is not inevitable. Today, almost 8 million Nepalis get by on less than $1.25 a day. For them, every decision is a trade-off with potentially catastrophic consequences. Do you buy medicines for a sick parent, provide an evening meal for your children or put a few pennies away towards a new roof or next year’s school fees? These questions are an everyday reality, especially for Nepal’s subsistence farmers, for whom extreme poverty is not just a statistic but a drain on their basic human dignity.
We can end extreme poverty for these 8 million Nepalis. We can end it for 26,000 children who die every year before the age of five. And we can end it for the 41 percent of all children who are stunted. But it will take partnership, innovation, and a strong commitment to policy reform. Indeed, it will take a new model of development.
A new model
The new model of development is partnering with the engines of growth—from companies to local entrepreneurs—to build inclusive economies and vibrant civil societies.
Growth tied to gains in agricultural productivity—we know—is up to three times more effective at raising the incomes of the poor than growth from any other sector. This is absolutely true here in Nepal, where 75 percent of the population makes its livelihoods in agriculture. That’s why we are working to improve nutrition and incomes for one million Nepalis.
Armed with new research on high-yield, climate-resilient maize varieties from Nepali centres, we’ve trained over 200 community groups in seed production. Perhaps most exciting, several of these groups have even grown to become full-fledged private seed companies. As a result, 50,000 rural families have generated an additional $1 million in sales—as maize yields nationwide have improved by 36 percent.
But raising incomes means little if families don’t have access to loans to grow their businesses or bank accounts to help save money for school fees. By partnering with local banks, we’ve helped catalyse and expand mobile banking services—and given families the opportunity to pay loans, transfer money or receive their salary right on their phone.
In the last year alone, banks served more than 19,000 new clients and disbursed over $2.3 million in rural loans to almost 8,000 borrowers—most of whom were women. Today, Nepali private sector leaders estimate that mobile financial services will reach all 75 districts within five years—enormous progress in a country where 70 percent of Nepali families don’t have a bank account.
Political will
Business and technology alone are not enough to end extreme poverty or accelerate economic growth. Political leadership and policy reform are essential to drive investment to the regions and sectors where it will have the biggest impact on extreme poverty.
We know that policy reforms are not easy. Cracking down on corruption and nepotism is not easy. Cutting off the vested interests in state monopolies is not easy. But these steps will help pave the way for sustainable economic growth—the very growth Nepal needs to lift millions from extreme poverty.
Six decades ago, Nepal and the United States first came together to build a new future for all Nepalis. We helped Nepal lay its first roads and installed its first telephone exchange. Our commitment remains just as strong today.
But ultimately, every nation must pursue its own path to prosperity. It will be the people of Nepal and their leadership that determine how fast and how far this beautiful and enterprising nation will travel.
7 From time to time, brain drain comes into discussion as something that contributes to slowing the country’s development. On occasions, people are found speaking from the podium words to curse those who, despite being subsidised by the government until their graduation, do not trouble coming back after they receive a degree abroad. Not only the people here, but also those in the developed countries consider this trend to be a hurdle to the development of the undeveloped countries. That’s why many international funding agencies which provide study grants to citizens from the developing countries seek a pledge from the applicants that they have intentions to return to their homes after their study or training is over.
Every year, a few hundred students from among some thousands in the queue become successful in positioning themselves as prospective students in foreign universities. Those rejected at their first attempt continue their efforts for some more years and may achieve the desired success in course of time. Many of these applicants have been educated at subsidised fees at Tribhuvan University or at least have been provided a learning platform by the country itself. The fact is that only a few of those who move abroad for higher studies actually come back to Nepal. Instead of fighting against the numerous problems in the country like those caused by political instability, unemployment, low income and so forth, they choose to contend with cultural and racial bias in a foreign land to earn a livelihood there. Very few may be willing to return to live in the home country.
Those choosing to come back too have not been facing a good fate. They are too old to apply for most jobs and are compelled to suffer unemployment despite their higher degrees like PhD. Many employers assume them to be persons who have lost their enthusiasm to work due to their age. Other returnees are scared to apply for a job if case they would not be able to meet the high expectations of their potential employers due to their high qualifications. Whether an employee with such a high degree or level of skill is their real need is always a question for them. I have met with a number of such graduates living miserable lives in the capital searching for employment that is “not bad”.
If on the one hand those who do not leave the country for higher studies or those who are educated here are treated as lacking ability by the state and their employers, on the other hand people having international degrees are being ignored. This situation has been encouraging youths to depart for foreign destinations and discouraging those who want to come back to serve the motherland. Therefore, if the reluctance of those who have gone away to return home is our concern, efforts must be put in by the state to retain within the country the graduates who have been educated here and abroad.
8 The South Asian tradition is such that a reputable last name can make life easier in many instances. But in careers where the common people are able to decide your fate, the utility of a famous last name can only help initially, after that you are on your own. I am certain that if Manisha Koirala hadn’t delivered award-winning performances in films like Bombay and Dil Se, she would have sunk into oblivion. In fact, the film industry sees many such star sons and daughters failing to carry forward the legacy of their illustrious fathers and mothers.
Last week, Sushil Koirala was sworn in as the 37th Prime Minister of Nepal. And there were rumours floating around that he once aspired to be an actor in Hollywood. Perhaps he could have made it big in Hollywood or like Manisha Koirala, in Bollywood, a challenging task on its own. But now that Sushil Koirala has made it to the top executive post, he will find it no less demanding.
Roadblocks ahead
The following challenges, unless dealt with priority, can pose problems for both constitution writing and Sushil Koirala’s government. The first challenge is running day-to-day governance affairs together with the CPN-UML as a coalition partner. In just a week, the two parties have succeeded in reviving the bitter old memories of the 1990s. The second challenge is to manage the intra-party differences with Sher Bahadur Deuba and keep him pacified.
The third challenge is the opposition, comprising of the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhes-based parties, who are likely to be the fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) if they unite. The reduction in size of these parties should not be seen as a weakening of their organisational strength, particularly in case of the UCPN (Maoist). The fourth challenge is Koirala’s overzealous commitment to complete constitution writing in a record one-year time, along with holding local elections. As of now, the NC has not even reached out to opposing fringe parties in the CA regarding the adoption of issues agreed upon by the previous CA, including the declaration of a republic. It is ironic that while new lawmakers were raising this issue of whether to declare Nepal a republic once again, Sushil Koirala was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
The Koirala privilege
It would do well for Koirala to remember that late Girija Prasad Koirala was a giant on his own but he was not BP Koirala. Had Girija emulated the ways of BP, he would have never made a separate name in Nepali politics. He left behind a legacy of a republican Nepal for everyone to revere. Sushil Koirala might be tempted to tread the Girija path and take a firm stand on issues. But doing so demands a complete hold on party structure, experience in cadre-level politics and most importantly, an attitude to be prepared to pay any price for one’s conviction.
Sushil Koirala, however, was only involved in the planning unit of the
NC for a long time where he did not face direct dissent. As prime minister, he will be held accountable for executive decisions. It is also time for him to speak out in public about his conviction on constitution writing. A backlash from the fringe
parties vis-a-vis constitution writing can be a costly deal. It would also do well for Koirala to remember that he is the leader of the largest party, not a directly-elected prime minister. Akin to star sons and daughters, he does have a last name advantage which helped him become executive head. But without a concrete outcome that can convince the populace, these advantages will quickly vanish.
Three options
Finally is the PM clear about his ultimate goal, the legacy that he would like to leave behind? In my view, the PM has three alternative legacies to choose from, the rest is his call to make.
Legacy one: Sushil Koirala revives the politics of 1990s.
(I am aware that there are people who still believe that blatant corruption, nepotism and horse-trading did not exist in the 1990s and it was no less than a democratic heaven. But the truth is, the only thing that mattered then was who held the post of the PM, everything else had little value.)
Legacy two: Sushil Koirala engages in the pointless exercise of holding local elections so that the NC and UML can reap the benefit of being in the government but fails to write a constitution.
(The fight for the Home Ministry is not a coincidence or an old habit. It is about who holds sway over the government machinery in case local elections are held. This is again similar to the Nepal of the 1990s.)
Legacy three: PM Koirala understands the political mandate of the new CA and commits himself and the NC to the constitution-writing process, taking everyone on the board including the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhes-based parties.
Sushil Koirala has an opportunity to leave a legacy for which he will be remembered for generations to come but only if he quickly takes a decision. The politics of the 1990s doesn’t allow enough time for the executive head to relish the premiership.
8 The relief that Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was at last able to put together a Cabinet was dampened somewhat by the fact that it was inclusivity-challenged. One does not want ceremonial tokenism when it comes to the executive function but the weight of the Bahun community is heavy on this government, representing 13 percent of the population but with 50 percent presence in the Cabinet. Among the 21 ministers named thus far, three have the surname ‘Acharya’.
The suggestion that pandits make natural leaders because of learning and power of oratory no longer holds. There are enough national-level leaders from the Janajati and Madhesi fold within the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML who make the grade. But weak and fractured leadership within the two lead parties, and the in-extremis jousting during the government formation, seem to have made them forget the campaign for identity waged over much of the last decade.
The intelligentsia and media, which could have influenced the debate, were transfixed by the acrimony that erupted unexpectedly between the NC and UML right after the election results were announced. First, the UML decided to press for election of Head of State, not having raised the matter before. Once that was sorted out, it was the NC’s turn to create a ruckus by refusing to give the Home Ministry portfolio to the UML. There was no other way but for the two parties to go into coalition embrace but needless damage was done to their relationship, so vital for constitution writing.
Amidst the power play, it was every ministerial candidate for himself and no one was talking of a capable and inclusive Cabinet. Certainly, the Congress leaders were not looking back to the 1959 government of Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala, whose colleagues were: Subarna Shumshere, Ganesh Man Singh, SP Upahyaya, Ram Narayan Mishra, Parashu Narayan Chowdhury, Shiva Raj Pant, Tulsi Giri, Min Bahadur Gurung, Prem Raj Angdambe, Suryanath Das Yadav, Shiva Pratap Shah, Dwarika Devi Thakurani, Yogendra Man Sherchan, Lalit Chand, Dewan Singh Rai, Jaman Singh Gurung and Neb Bahadur Malla.
We have regressed some over the past half-century. Of course, a country with such enthralling diversity cannot have all communities represented in a Cabinet but here, even cohorts have been neglected. One Dalit, two Madhesis, two women and three Janajatis in a Cabinet of (thus far) of 21 is not something to be proud of.
As the critical task of constitution writing looms, it is best to regard this non-inclusivity as an aberration, hoping that the new government after the constitution promulgation will better represent the electorate. And we may also count our blessings vis-à-vis the Koirala cabinet: it is small in size and marks the movement towards the polity’s ‘normalisation’, being answerable to the elected Parliament.
While the Constituent Assembly begins work on the drafting, Koirala should get cracking on governance. This writer’s shortlist of urgent and pending matters include the following—Chure destruction, rights accountability, foreign affairs and local
elections.
Chure plunder
The ransacking of the Chure (Shivalik), the first line of low hills in the Tarai, has continued unchecked for nearly a decade (as also reported recently in extensio in Nagarik daily). The construction boom in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has spurred this plunder, including the building of highways above the flood line. Rather than go south to the Deccan, rock and boulder contractors came north, invading the Chure. The resulting devastation sets the stage for desertification of the Nepali Tarai and flash floods further downstream, also reducing aquifer recharge all over.
Realising the extent of the upcoming calamity, in 2010, President Ram Baran Yadav convinced the government to start what is known the President’s Chure Conservation Programme. However, not much seems to have been achieved despite much money down the dry riverbed. On Wednesday, Congress lawmakers Gagan Thapa, Ganesh Mandal and Sunil Yadav (Kathmandu, Siraha, Rauthat) castigated the authorities for lack of movement on the Chure environment. The alertness of the three MPs is hopefully a harbinger of revived parliamentary process, with people’s representatives once again beginning to direct and watchdog government.
Back to accountability
The new government has its work cut out in terms of reviving the criminal justice system, which has been run to the ground by the Maoist juggernaut. The police, district attorneys as well as the entire court system have been weakened, the proof of it to be found in the disinclination to pursue conflict-era atrocities by both state and insurgents. A case in point is the police refusing to provide fortnightly reports as demanded by the Supreme Court on the case against UCPN (Maoist) spokesman Agni Sapkota (re the murder of Arjun Bahadur Lama).
Today is the 127th day of a hunger strike satyagraha by Nanda Prasad and Gangamaya Adhikari. The special investigation team headed by police DIG Ganesh Rai does not seem to have visited the place of the murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari in 2004, at Bakular Chowk in Chitwan. Other police officers claim that the killers have been identified but are not moving beyond that. They are obviously waiting for instructions from on high, and so, as the couple becomes weaker (kept alive by intravenous protein feed), all eyes are on Prime Minister Koirala and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam.
Foreign shambles
Nepal’s international affairs have been in continuous decline during the ‘transitional period’ since 2006, quite a deceleration for a sovereign country. Ambassadorial appointments have been a national embarrassment, Barakhamba Road in Delhi has been devoid of a plenipotentiary for three years running and the pressing demand for diplomatic representation in the Gulf states and Malaysia (to serve more than two million migrant workers) has not been met. The past few years saw the two neighbours muscle in on the polity, even as donor organisations defined the terrain on which they would operate in Nepal, including in constitution-writing itself.
Nepal needs to convince the world that this society is resilient and that it is on the mend following the November 19 elections. The Koirala government must ramp up diplomacy to bring Nepal’s image up to where it truly represents the people’s spirit, so that the economy gets a boost and—inshallah!—our passport gets more respect. Let us hope that there will be enough to show by the time of the Saarc Summit, which Kathmandu gets to host in November this year.
Electing locally
Elections for local government (villages, districts and municipalities) have become critical. The last polls were held 16 years ago and we have not had elected local representatives for 11 years. This has led to a distortion in our democracy, corrupted political actors from the villages on up, derailed development works and blocked services from reaching the poorest.
Prime Minister Koirala has promised local elections by April-May and the donor community fortunately is active on this front, but the shoals are visible. Some Madhesi leaders and the UCPN (Maoist) as a whole are dead-set against local elections in the spring, and their resistance needs to be overcome. There is also the danger that the UML as the main coalition partner will become preoccupied with its upcoming general convention, enough to push back elections. Those who worry that local polls will vitiate the constitutional agenda need to be convinced that only some district boundaries could change (if at all), for which provisos can be made. The citizenry at the grassroots in mountain, hill and plain cannot be short-changed any longer.
9
During the good old days, pure and abundant water flowed in the Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers of Kathmandu which nourished a civilisation based on devotional and rich cultural activities. The citizens of the capital city used to have wonderful early morning activities taking sacred baths in these rivers and conducting early morning prayers and worship. This routine now seems to be distant history beyond imagination today as these rivers have turned into stinking open sewers. When we embarked on a thoughtless construction spree in the Kathmandu valley that cared little about the valuable cultural legacy, environmental health and essence of the river ecosystem, the Bagmati and Bishnumati river civilisation saw a sad demise.
Those were the days when the Kathmandu valley’s rivers were filled with crystal clear water where people dived and swam. Fishermen caught fish by casting their nets in the rivers, and brought them in baskets to sell in the city’s bazaars. Devotees performed sacred ceremonies on the river banks and bathed in the water. The sand on the riverbed could be seen through the water. These days, we have to wait for the monsoon floods for the rivers to rise, but we can see the flow of murky water only for a few days. The rest of the year, the rivers are motionless and stink with no sign of vital aquatic life. As far as I remember, I myself used to drink water taken from the Bagmati River just below my house at Gothatar VDC. Now the times have changed. When I can’t even immerse my feet in the river’s water, it would be foolish to talk about the purity of the Bagmati’s water and if it’s fit for drinking. Much has been talked and written about cleaning up the Bagmati River in the Kathmandu valley. Still the pathetic plight of the people residing near the Bagmati River continues to grow.
According to a report, a clean-up campaign has been launched with the aim of regaining Bagmati’s previous glory. Various stakeholders including the city authorities, government ministries and line agencies have been working constantly to clean up the river by picking up garbage and plastic bags thrown into the water. The campaign’s aim to make the river water potable within a stipulated time frame will not be possible to achieve as long as waste water and other undesirable materials are dumped into the river. The discharge from sewage pipes contaminated with human waste is the main cause of pollution in the Bagmati River. I live near the Bagmati River; and have witnessed several factors destroying the ecosystem of the Bagmati and other rivers in the Kathmandu valley. In my opinion, as long as we fail to garner support from the people residing along the entire length of the Bagmati, high-sounding slogans and propaganda about cleaning up the river will remain only a distant dream.
10 The two weeks it took to put together the Cabinet took a heavy toll on the standing of both the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, embroiled as each was with factional tugs-of-war even while trying to bring the presumptive coalition partner to heel. We finally have in place a more-or-less full Cabinet and the matter seems to have been resolved. For now at least, since the headlines the next day bespoke what could lie in store for the government. ‘CPN-UML Team Draws Flak for Non-MPs Selection’ said one, ‘Discontent within Congress’ said another, ‘UML Lower Rungs in Rift over Cabinet Names’ said a third.
Nothing out of the ordinary for one inured to the rough-and-tumble of Nepali politics but certainly not a good portent for the country’s future and the drafting of the constitution. Neither is it a good sign that the Cabinet failed to be more representative of the population, dealing a big blow to the main mantra of post-2006 politics—inclusion—and the NC Vice-Chairperson apparently even voiced his concerns about the matter to the Prime Minister.
Women, Madhesis and Janajatis were provided the kind of representation that screamed tokenism in the new government. But, in terms of the signal it sends out, what stood out was the UML finding a place for just one Madhesi leader in the Cabinet, which was, of course, totally in character for a party that laid out the diktat that every male CA member has to be clad in daura-suruwal, one of the pet peeves of Madhesi politics. For the government, what is more shameful is that it failed to find a single person from Karnali.
One certainly understands that the task of putting together the Cabinet itself was so onerous that the very fact that we have one is a wonder, other concerns be damned. The majority of our governments since 1990 have been coalitions. For some reason, coming up with a government seems to have become tougher with the years. That is probably because even when consisting of just one party, the Cabinet has always been a coalition of competing factions within the party and positions keep shifting. In that sense, what we now have is a coalition of coalitions and the limited number of Cabinet posts available for doling out means that one or another leader is currently sulking in the corner of each party. And there is no saying how that disgruntlement will manifest in the future.
The UML show
Take the example of the UML and the goings-on therein. The latest issue of the newsmagazine, Himal, has a very useful timeline to show the ebb and flow of the relationship between the two leaders at the centre of the UML fracas: the former prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and the prime minister-in-waiting, KP Oli. It deals with the recent past only since recounting the whole history of this ongoing drama would require more than a timeline.
Dramatis personae
1. Jhala Nath Khanal: Chairperson
2. Madhav Kumar Nepal: Senior Leader (that actually being his rank in the party, whether inspired by North Korea’s penchant for ‘Leaders’ yet to be determined)
3. KP Oli: Senior Leader (ditto)
4. Bamdev Gautam: Vice-Chairperson
5. Ishwor Pokharel: General Secretary
The play
Act I: February 2009. Khanal defeats Oli to become Chairperson of the CPN-UML; Khanal is supported by Gautam and Pokharel while Oli has the backing of Nepal.
Act II: May 2009. Nepal becomes prime minister with the support of Oli.
Act III: Early 2010. With Khanal’s support, Gautam leads a signature campaign against the Nepal-led government; Oli remains steadfastly with Nepal.
Act IV: February 2011. Khanal becomes prime minister against Nepal’s and
Oli’s wishes.
Act V: End of 2011. Khanal and Oli reach ‘internal unity’; Nepal unhappy.
Act VI: 2012. Warming of ties between Oli and Pokharel, driving Khanal and Nepal to each other.
Act VII: Run-up to November 2013 election. Oli openly attacks Khanal and Nepal for selecting candidates without consulting him.
Act VIII, Scene I: February 1, 2014, Gautam comes out in support of Oli in the election of the UML parliamentary party leader.Act VIII, Scene II: Oli defeats Khanal to become the UML parliamentary party leader.
The next act will unfold when the UML holds its overdue national convention with both Nepal and Oli having declared their intention to contest the leadership of the UML. May the better man win and lead the UML and the country to glory. Except that there is hardly any chance of that happening. All the shifting of allegiances the party saw at the highest levels in the past five years was hardly a clash of ideas or ideals, or at least we did not hear of any. Each man was on the lookout for himself in this blatant game of one-upmanship.
Not quite the same
Coming back to the present, it seems like the Deputy Speakership of the legislature is going to be the preserve of women. The three consecutive legislatures have seen women occupying the largely ornamental Deputy’s chair, with no indication that an upward shift is likely anytime soon.
The one positive message from the formation of the new Cabinet is that women ministers have been given the portfolios of education and energy. That’s an encouraging move away from relegating women to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare only. Of course, with a woman having headed the Defence Ministry earlier, the gendered division no longer holds. One would similarly have expected the participation of Dalits in government to be routine as well, and that was exactly what happened.
We will soon see the dynamics at play within the Cabinet. How Prime Minister Sushil Koirala will contend with the literally looming presence of his deputy, Bamdev Gautam, will probably set the tone of the government. The start has not been all that auspicious, with the latter having been turned into a bogeyman by the NC and his presumed ability to swing the supposedly planned-for local elections in his party’s favour.
Here, one is forced to ask why is it that the NC, the UML or the Maoists have not set out to create an institutional structure where the results of any election is not dependent or depends very little on who controls the administrative machinery. To remind them all of their promise when signing the 12-point agreement in November 2005,
the seventh point states: “Making a self-assessment towards the mistakes and weaknesses committed while staying in the Government and parliament in the past, the seven political parties have expressed their commitment for not repeating such mistakes and weaknesses now onwards.” (Granted that the Maoists not having been in government till then they were required to made party to the pledge, but having been sullied by power by now they, too, are morally bound to its spirit.)
Any hanky-panky during elections surely counts as ‘mistakes and weaknesses...while …in government’, and not to be repeated. Unfortunately, the aim of the NC seems to have been to keep Gautam at bay rather than opt for some kind of correction in the system itself.
1 More than 10 assailants slashed scores of people with knives at a train station in southern China in what officials said Sunday was a terrorist assault by ethnic separatists from the far west. Twenty-nine slash victims and four attackers were killed and 143 people wounded.
Police fatally shot four of the assailants, captured one and were searching for the others following the attack late Saturday at the Kunming train station in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. State broadcaster CCTV said at least two of the attackers were women — one of the slain and the one who was captured and later brought to a hospital for treatment.
Witnesses described assailants dressed in black storming the train station and slashing people indiscriminately with large knives and machetes.
Student Qiao Yunao, 16, was waiting to catch a train at the station when people started crying out and running, and then saw a man cut another man's neck, drawing blood.
"I was freaking out, and ran to a fast food store, and many people were running in there to take refuge," she told The Associated Press via Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblog. "I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could."
The attackers' identities have not been confirmed, but evidence at the scene showed that it was "a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces," Xinhua quoted the municipal government as saying.
Xinhua said that in addition to the four attackers who died, 29 civilians were killed and 143 wounded.
A heavy contingent of armed police patrolled in and around the railway station Sunday afternoon, but its ticket window was back in operation and cleanup crews disinfected the area with spray. A local woman laid a bunch of yellow lilies and other flowers near a bull statue in front of the station.
"This is to express our condolences for the victims and to show we have no fear in the face of violence," said the woman, who gave her name only as Guo.
The far western region of Xinjiang is home to a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule by some members of the Muslim Uighur (pronounced WEE'-gur) population, and the government has responded with heavy-handed security.
Most attacks blamed on Uighur separatists take place in Xinjiang, where clashes between ethnic Uighurs and members of China's ethnic Han majority are frequent, but Saturday's assault happened more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the southeast in Yunnan, which has not had a history of such unrest.
However, a suicide car attack blamed on three ethnic Uighurs that killed five people, including the attackers, at Beijing's Tiananmen Gate in October raised alarms that militants could be changing tactics and aiming to strike at soft targets elsewhere in China.
Sean Roberts, a cultural anthropologist at George Washington University who has studied Uighurs and China for two decades, said the Kunming violence would be a new kind of attack for ethnic Uighurs — premeditated and outside Xinjiang — but still rudimentary in weaponry.
"If it is true that it was carried out by Uighurs, it's much different than anything we've seen to date," Roberts said by phone.
But he added that it is still unclear whether there is any organized Uighur militant group, and that attacks so far do not appear linked to any "global terrorist network, because we're not seeing things like sophisticated explosives or essentially sophisticated tactics."
In an indication of how seriously authorities viewed the attack — one of China's deadliest in recent years — the country's top police official, Politburo member Meng Jianzhu, arrived in Kunming on Sunday and went straight to the hospital to visit the wounded, Xinhua reported.
The violence in Kunming came at a sensitive time, with political leaders in Beijing preparing for Wednesday's opening of the annual legislature, where the government of President Xi Jinping will deliver its first one-year work report.
Xi called for "all-out efforts" to bring the culprits to justice. In a statement, the Security Management Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security said that police will "crack down the crimes in accordance with the law without any tolerance."
Willy Lam, a political observer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the attack coming so close to the annual National People's Congress dented Xi's message of a "Chinese Dream" coalescing under his rule.
"Pockets of dissatisfaction, groups of people with grievances, appear to be increasing. After 1 1/2 years of more heavy-handed control (in Xinjiang), the report card does not look good," Lam said.
The attack was the deadliest violence attributed to Uighur-Han conflicts since riots in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi in 2009, in which Uighurs stormed the streets of the city, targeting Han people in seemingly random violence that included killing women and children. A few days later, Han vigilante mobs armed with sticks and bats attacked Uighurs in the same city. Nearly 200 people died.
2 President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday that military intervention in Ukraine would lead to "costs," as tension with old foe President Vladimir Putin rose in a Cold War-style crisis.
"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine," he told reporters.
Obama and European leaders would consider skipping a G8 summit this summer in the Russian city of Sochi if Moscow intervenes militarily in Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said. The G8 includes the world's seven leading industrial nations and Russia.
"The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine," Obama said in the White House briefing room.
Facing yet another confrontation with Putin after butting heads with him over Syria, Obama said any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "deeply destabilizing."
Obama did not spell out what he meant by Russian military intervention.
Russia has a huge naval base in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and says it has the right to move troops in Ukraine under an agreement between the two former Soviet neighbors.
U.S. officials said they saw indications of Russian troop movements into Crimea but that their numbers and intentions were unclear.
The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Rogers, said in a statement: "It appears that the Russian military now controls the Crimean peninsula."
Vice President Joe Biden called Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Friday "to reaffirm the United States' strong support for the new government and our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine," the White House said.
The crisis has presented Obama with a difficult challenge days after the ouster of Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine's pro-Moscow president, who fled to Russia following three months of protests in Kiev.
Armed men took control of two airports in the Crimea region in what the new Ukrainian leadership described as an invasion by Moscow's forces, and Yanukovich surfaced in Russia a week after he fled Kiev.
Ukraine fell into political crisis last year when Yanukovich spurned a broad trade deal with the European Union and accepted a $15 billion Russian bailout that is now in question.
A U.S. response to any Russian intervention in Ukraine could include avoiding deeper trade and commerce ties that Moscow is seeking, the senior U.S. official said.
Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now at the Brookings Institution think tank, said it was inconceivable that the United States would consider a military response were Russia to seek to gain control of Crimea, and that it had few plausible options to oppose such a move.
"If you look at the U.S.-Russian relationship, what kinds of things could we do to punish them? There are not a lot of good levers there," he added.
Putin has proved immune to U.S. calls for Moscow to stop supporting Syria's government in its three-year-old civil war. And the United States was unable to prevent Putin from staging Russian incursions into neighboring Georgia in 2008.
IMF SEES NO PANIC
In the struggle between the West and Russia for influence in Ukraine, both sides are wielding money.
Putin last year offered $15 billion for Kiev, $3 billion of which has been delivered, in what was widely seen as a reward for Yanukovich's turning away from the EU deal.
Now, support from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund is seen as critical to shoring up Ukraine's collapsing finances. The United States and the EU say they are willing to provide funds alongside an IMF program.
Russia also supports the fund's involvement, and an IMF team is set to arrive in Kiev early next week to collect information and start working on a loan program.
But IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Friday suggested there was no rush to help Ukraine, which says it needs $35 billion over two years to avoid default and may need $4 billion immediately.
"We do not see anything that is critical, that is worthy of panic at the moment," Lagarde told reporters. "We would certainly hope that the (Ukrainian) authorities refrain from throwing lots of numbers which are really meaningless until they've been assessed properly."
U.S. lawmakers are hammering out details of an assistance package for Ukraine. Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on European affairs, said the package would be part of a broader, coordinated program with the EU, the IMF and other international partners.
"I encourage the new government to implement the necessary economic reforms to stabilize the economy and set Ukraine on a path to prosperity, including rooting out corruption and increasing transparency in government finances," Murphy said.
Republican Senator John McCain, a long-time Putin critic, said diplomatic and economic sanctions could be imposed. But Putin does not fear the United States, he told CNN.
3 A major Chinese government news service used a racist slur to describe the departing American ambassador in a mean-spirited editorial on Friday that drew widespread public condemnation in China.
The article — which called Gary Locke a "rotten banana," a guide dog for the blind, and a plague — reflected Chinese nationalists' acute loathing toward the first Chinese-American to have been Washington's top envoy to Beijing.
Locke's ethnic background particularly interested the Chinese government and people. Locke won public applause when he was seen carrying his own bag and flying economy class but he drew criticism from Beijing as his demeanor was an unwelcome contrast to Chinese officials' privileges and entitlements.
In Washington, top diplomat John Kerry paid tribute to Locke as "a champion of human dignity and a relentless advocate for America's values." Asked about the China News Service commentary, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Friday: "We are not going to dignify the name-calling in that editorial with a response."
In his 2½ years in Beijing, Locke oversaw the defusing of two delicate diplomatic episodes when a powerful police chief fled to a U.S. consulate and later when a persecuted blind activist sought shelter in the embassy. The Chinese public also credit him with making them realize the harm of the tiny pollutant PM2.5 and severity of China's foul air by posting the embassy's hourly readings of air quality.
Meanwhile, the editorials in Chinese state media turned from initial reservation to unfriendliness to the insolence of the final piece.
"I think it shows the unfriendliness and impoliteness by the Chinese government toward Gary Locke, and it is without the manners and dignity of a major power," legal scholar Hao Jinsong said. "It is unfitting of China's status as a diplomatic power. As a Chinese, I am very angry and feel ashamed of it."
The editorial "Farewell, Gary Locke" took direct aim at Locke's identity as a third-generation Chinese-American, calling him a "banana" — a racial term for Asians identifying with Western values despite their skin color.
"But when a banana sits out for long, its yellow peels will always rot, not only revealing its white core but also turning into the stomach-churning color of black," read the editorial.
The author Wang Ping — likely a pseudonym — slammed Locke's portrayal as an official judicious with public funds but criticized him for being hypocritical as he retreated into his multimillion-dollar official residence and special-made, bullet-proof luxury vehicle.
Wang belittled Locke's inability to speak his ancestral language and accused him of failing to understand China's law but fanning "evil winds" in the ethnically sensitive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
"Not only did he run around by himself, he even served as a guide dog for the blind when he took in the so-called blind rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng and led him running," the editorial said. Chen later was allowed to leave China and now lives in the United States.
The editorial made a malicious Chinese curse at Locke, suggesting Locke's Chinese ancestors would expel him from the family clan should they know his behaviors.
Wang also made the innuendo that Locke should be blamed for the smog. "When he arrived, so did Beijing's smog," Wang wrote. "With his departure, Beijing's sky suddenly turned blue."
"Let's bid goodbye to the smog, and let's bid goodbye to the plague. Farewell, Gary Locke," ended the article, which was clearly inspired by Mao Zedong's 1949 piece, "Farewell, Leighton Stuart," that scoffed at the last American ambassador under the collapsing Nationalist government in Nanjing.
The piece shocked members of the Chinese public, who denounced the editorial as distasteful and offensive.
"This article by China News Service is the most shameless I have ever seen — not one of them but the most shameless," the popular online commentator Yao Bo said. "Without him, we probably still would not have known what PM2.5 is, and how did he bring the smog? You have played the snake in the Farmer and the Viper."
Another commentator Fastop Liu, known for his sharp tongue, said the piece is ungraceful. "When you call him a plague, you become a national shame as you lack diplomatic etiquette, damage the manner of a great power, and lose the face of all Chinese," Liu wrote.
Locke gave his final news conference as ambassador on Thursday. His replacement, former Montana Sen. Max Baucus, was sworn in last week and is expected to arrive within weeks.
5 Authorities in Switzerland announced Friday they have launched a corruption probe against Ukraine's fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Aleksander, and blocked all the potential assets that might be hidden in the Alpine nation.
The Geneva prosecutors' office said in a statement that the criminal investigation concerned "aggravated money laundering."
"Chief prosecutor Yves Bertossa and members of the financial police conducted a search in the morning of Feb. 27 at the premises of a company owned by Aleksander Yanukovych," prosecutors said. Documents were seized, but the prosecutor said no further details of the investigation would be provided.
Separately, the nation's governing Federal Council, which includes the president and six other ministers, said Friday it has decided to block all assets Yanukovych and his entourage might have in Switzerland, effective immediately.
Through the action, the Council said in a statement that it "wishes to avoid any risk of misappropriation of Ukrainian state assets."
Switzerland has been at pains to prevent foreign leaders from using the country's secretive banks as places to hide and launder ill-gotten funds.
In recent years the Alpine nation has frozen accounts linked to former members of the deposed governments in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
6 Ukraine mobilized its army for war on Sunday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade, creating the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
"This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," said Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, head of a pro-Western government that took power when Russian ally Viktor Yanukovich fled last week.
Putin obtained permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not intervene.
Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. On Sunday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, although no shots were fired.
Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council's secretary Andriy Parubiy announced.
The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct a call-up of reserves - theoretically all men up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, though Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for significant numbers of them.
"If President Putin wants to be the president who started the war between two neighboring and friendly countries, between Ukraine and Russia, so: he has reached this target within a few inches. We are on the brink of disaster," Yatseniuk said in televised remarks in English, appealing for Western support.
So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea, but Kiev officials accused Moscow of being behind a pattern of violent protests in other eastern cities as a pretext to launch a wider invasion.
Pro-Moscow demonstrators flew Russian flags on Saturday at government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk. In places they clashed with anti-Russian protesters and guards trying to defend the buildings.
Ukrainian parliamentarian Hrygory Nemyriya, a spokesman to foreign journalists for the new authorities, said the pro-Moscow marchers were sent from Russia. He described a pattern of "Russian citizens in Ukrainian provinces orchestrating the illegal seizure of government buildings".
The worst violence took place in Kharkiv, where scores of people were hurt on Saturday when thousands of pro-Russian activists, some brandishing axe handles and chains, stormed the regional government and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine's new authorities.
In Donetsk, Yanukovich's home city, the local government has called for a referendum on the region's status, a move Kiev says is illegal. A pro-Russian "self-defense" unit, which staged a big protest on Saturday, scheduled another for Sunday.
1 The UCPN (Maoist) is insisting that parties pass legislation on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) before they move on to constitution drafting. The issue of transitional justice has been long been disputed and as a result, has been repeatedly shelved. The Maoist party has for a while now envisioned the TRC as a method of ensuring that their members are not arrested on criminal charges. The party wants all conflict-era cases to be addressed through the TRC, which could then grant amnesties to perpetrators of rights violations
during the conflict. Human rights activists, on the other hand, have long been arguing that the TRC should not have the right to grant amnesty and that the courts should continue prosecuting conflict-era cases independently of the TRC. Activists also argue that the last TRC ordinance gave too much power to the political parties.
The Supreme Court verdict of January on the TRC ordinance offers a standpoint to restart the TRC debate and revise legislation. In a number of ways, the Court’s judgment accords with that of activists. The judgment states that the ordinance grants too much discretionary power to the government and commissioners, not least in forcing victims and perpetrators to reconcile. It states that there should be two commissions as originally planned—a TRC and a Disappearance Commission—rather than just one, as the ordinance stated. The judgment also holds that the ordinance grants too much power to the TRC to grant amnesties and rejects the idea that amnesties can be given for serious crimes. On the other hand, the judgment does not just repeat the arguments of rights activists. In contrast to some arguments from the human rights community, the judgment mentions that the TRC can grant amnesties in specific cases and has said that criteria for amnesty should be listed in the legislation.
In some ways, therefore, the Court’s judgment mediates the disparate positions of the parties and rights activists. The political parties now need to revise the transitional justice legislation in accordance with the judgment. This should not be such a difficult task and can be accomplished swiftly if political will exists. In the meantime, there needs to be widespread public discussion regarding the functions of the TRC. There is much confusion about this issue in the public sphere and even those in the know have differing interpretations. For example, the specific relationship of the TRC to the criminal justice system when it comes to transitional justice has not been adequately delineated. The parties, activists and victims groups need to come together to resolve such outstanding matters.
2 On Wednesday, a news report in a daily newspaper made grave allegations against social worker Dil Shova Shrestha. The report claimed that Shrestha, who runs the old age home and orphanage Aama Ghar, has been hiring out people under her care as domestic help. The most serious allegations, however, were of the sexual misconduct of children and the elderly. The report cited an audio recording where Shrestha is allegedly heard speaking to a client on the phone, promising that a domestic help will arrive to cook, clean and that “she will sleep with you and will love, love, love you.” The recording was forwarded to the District Administration Office and the Central Child Welfare Board, who have formed a joint team to conduct an investigation. The team discovered that Shrestha had been running the orphanage without a government permit and subsequently took 34 children into protective custody. Shrestha, for her part, unequivocally refuted the charges of sexual misconduct but admitted to not having a permit for the orphanage, only because she didn’t know she required one. But Shrestha should know that ignorance of the law excuses no one.
These allegations are very serious in nature indeed, for Shrestha is a well-known social worker. She had received much attention after being profiled on Kantipur Television’s Dishanirdesh in July last year, prompting donations from the Saarc Chamber Women Entrepreneurs’ Council. Shrestha, who started Aama Ghar after her husband ran out on her and her teenage daughter, is said to be a warm and caring person. She comes across as someone genuinely concerned for the welfare of others, which probably had a lot to do with why the public was so enthusiastic in its support and so dismayed by the allegations. But if these charges are true, Shrestha will have much to answer for. Anecdotal evidence is mixed while the investigation claims that Aama Ghar was often in terrible conditions, filthy with human waste and dirt. But they also assert that the children seemed well-fed, healthy and happy.
Shrestha is a person of repute and the public holds her in high-esteem, which is why the allegations have received so much attention. Is one audio recording enough grounds to allege crimes of such a serious nature? As of yet, there is no other evidence and the investigation has not been completed. So it must be remembered that Shrestha is innocent until proven guilty, especially of the sexual charges. In any case, the controversy has already shed light on the deplorable manner in which the Capital’s numerous orphanages are run; some are little more than moneymaking ventures with orphans as a front. Shrestha’s Aama Ghar too seems to have been run in less-than-desirable conditions. Given the gravity of this issue, it is imperative that the ongoing investigation be conducted in an objective and thorough manner. But until an official report is released, the public, and especially the media, should refrain from jumping to conclusions.
Food and shelter is the priority for most so how can people think of education and other needs when they have no food or shelter? Children are obliged to dropout of school because of great poverty. Consequently, they have to work to generate income by collecting yarsagumba.
State of women
It is not only children, women are oppressed and marginalised within family and in society. The practice chaupadi is still prevalent, even though many NGOs and INGOs are working to combat such practices. Women are still forced to heavy household work, often even when they are pregnant. Women work with babies strapped to their backs and there is little time to raise children properly. Similarly, the pain of Dalit women is unquantifiable.
However, this situation is gradually changing as different stakeholders and line agencies are conducting many awareness programmes in coordination. This symbolises the fact that we have only done a little; much more remains to be done for social change and community development. And definitely, the day will come when Dalits and non-Dalits sit together in the same house and discuss the agendas of progressive changes and transformation in society.
Similarly, health concerns are paramount. But the people of Karnali do even have proper access to primary treatment. The situation is terrible when a pregnant woman loses their life while delivering a child. For treatment, they are compelled to come to Nepalgunj. Otherwise, treatment is only a dream as there are no transportation facilities, expect the rare flight at Talcha Airport. And this flight too, is beyond the financial capabilities of the residents of this region.
No political representation
For the most underdeveloped region in the country, Karnali does not even have access to the political mechanism. It is a great failure of the political parties that they were not able to select the CA members through a proportional electoral system representing equal participation from all districts. This has effectively excluded Karnali voices from the constitution. This kind of political exclusion from the national mainstream is not good for development and must be rectified as soon as possible.
Despite all these problems, Karnali has many potentialities. It is a land of timber and apples and walnuts. Karnali has the potential to be a rich land in terms of income generation. But the government must first ensure access to markets for cash crops. This can only be done through the expansion of transportation facilities and an increase in road access.
The political parties have played their games using Karnali as a backdrop. But they are reluctant to see the real oppression of these people here. The urgent need now is well-maintained roads and transportation. No facilities can be available without the construction of roads. The government needs to engineer progressive plans and polices to address local issues and capitalise on local products and potentialities.
Rijal has been working as a social activist in the Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre
2
Many villagers residing in far-flung areas of Nepal are still deprived of decent road transport facilities and basic health care. However, they are digitally linked to the world through their cellphones and laptop. Thanks to foreign employment for this. It has been a while since young people whether from the city or rural areas began flying abroad either for higher education or for employment. And if we are to forget
about the sufferings of workers abroad, particularly in the Gulf, labour migration has changed the way people live in rural areas. Most people in the villages now own a cellphone, laptop and even have access to the internet to stay in touch with their loved ones abroad. Technology has now become an integral part of life.
Videochat from the village
Recently I got a chance to video-chat with a women residing in Far-West Nepal. Thanks to her husband, a migrant worker at Dubai, who had bought her a laptop and an android phone. Thus, without even leaving her village is now connected to the world outside through the internet which was unthinkable previously. People travelling to the villages will frequently notice that places without a proper health post have houses with televisions and expensive cellphones. They have easy access to the internet too. People use Facebook, Viber and Skype and one can see them chatting on their cellphone while at their farms or while
doing household chores. Foreign employment and remittance has thus changed the way we communicate and live. In addition, through the internet people also have instant and immediate access to the information happening all over the world.
No jobs
Each year around half a million youths enter the job market in Nepal and most do not find any work. Foreign employment is the only option for them. And given that the prospects of job creation in the immediate future look bleak, foreign labour migration will continue to be youth’s choice for many years to come. Therefore, the government should extend its necessary support and explore new lucrative markets for the Nepali workers.
Remittances will continue to play a significant role in improving the living standards of millions of Nepalis for many years to come. However, the government and policymakers must also understand that foreign employment is not a long-term solution. In the long run, remittance should be utilised for capital formation. If the ongoing trend of spending remittance on imported goods
is not changed, the prospects of job creation will worsen. Nepal became a country
without youth and their productiveness in near future. Therefore, the time has come to think about the best utilisation of remittance that enters the country.
3 The unprecedented lack of mutual trust between two major parties—Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML—that surfaced in the past weeks does not bode well for the enactment of a new constitution within a year as pledged by most of the parties in the second Constituent Assembly (CA). Needless to say, a collective lack of trust was the main factor behind the failure of the first CA.
It is most unfortunate for Nepal that the parties have been unable to rise above their respective party interests. More disgusting is the fact that leaders seem to find pleasure in stifling the wishes of the people. The people’s verdict was in favour of collaboration among parties. A consensus government would have been the most appropriate agency to do so. But as that failed, the next viable option would have been with the formation of a government including parties with democratic credentials. So the proposed coalition between the NC and UML with the support of some small parties was an obvious choice. But what followed was political wragling between the parties over the allotment of attractive ministries, the Home Ministry being the primary bone of contention.
Fight for home
The NC and UML are not only the largest parties in the Assembly but also have the longest collective experience of running government. Although the NC leader-cum-Prime Minister Sushil Koirala lacks experience of an administrative role, he has around him more than a dozen ex-PM, deputy PMs and ministers with varying experiences of running the government. They could have easily helped the PM handle the Home Ministry debate, which was obstructing the formation of a coalition government. One can’t help but wonder if somebody first lied about the NC negotiators promising the Home Ministry to the UML. But this incident embarrased the PM who was under internal pressure (or perhaps external pressure) to not hand over the ministry to the UML. Thus, Koirala denied the NC making any such offer to the UML. If some of his colleagues had lied to him, it was the wrong strategy because the new PM could not only have lost face before the UML, but also the world at large. On the other hand, if the
UML made the claim without any assurance from the NC, it would lose its image as a responsible national party. The public needs to know where the dirty trick started.
Lame logic
Let us examine some underlying myths in this episode. One NC General Secretary declared that there is a practice of the Home Ministry being kept under the party whose leader heads the government as PM. This is not coroborated by facts. In the Cabinet led by Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, Bijay Gachhadar of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik was the Home Minister. Bamdev Gautam of the UML was also a Deputy PM and Home Minister even when the PM was of a different party.
Another myth is that when both the PM and the Home Ministry is held by the same party, it can makes governance easier. Krishna Sitaula held the ministry under PM Girija Koirala when the first CA election was held. The PM needs to mantain cordial coordination with the Home Minister. If untrustworthy, the PM has the right to fire the minister immediately.
The core principle of a coalition culture is that the PM upholds the autonomy of the cooperating party and the latter does not infringe on the supervisory power of the PM. So one reason behind the initial denial of the ministry to Bamdev Gautam was the fear that he might monopolise the local election results as he allegedly did 16 years ago. But such fears are the worst in coalition politics. The new government has pledged to hold local elections within six months to fill the political void at the local level.
Local elections, however, are not conducted by the Home Minister and there are several checks and balances in the electoral process. If held, other parties participating in the local elections will not tolerate the administrative interference, if there is any. People who preside over the election machinery are not subservient to the Home Ministry or its district level agencies, the Chief District Officer and the police in particular. There is free press and there will be election observers. Finally, there will be civil society and human right activists who pledge to be neutral. Our democratic process is getting stronger and richer in experience. So, it is naive to assume that the Home Minister alone can monopolise the results of the local election.
Stick together
The fiasco has now been resolved and Gautam has been declared the Home Minister. However, the debate did not just delay the formation of the government but also provided a peek into the problems in formulation of the constitution. With regard to the content of the constitution, the NC and UML’s positions were close, if not identical. And this was one reason why the people trusted them this time, rather than the extreme left. But if differences between the two grow, they could side with the extreme left. This will not only create ideological incompatibility but will also make it harder to reach consensus on several aspects of constitution making. Single ethnic identity-based federalism is one; regionalism, like a single Madhes, is another. This could greatly hamper the process of reaching consensus on the issue of federalisation.
There are some extremists in every party but there also are moderates in each one of them. There are experienced, prudent, emotionally balanced and ideologically sound leaders both in the NC and the UML. So it would be wise for the PM to take help from such leaders and use them as sincere emissaries to negotiate with moderate leaders in the UML. This would help dispel the crisis of confidence and aid consitution writing. It is in the interest of the country that the coalition works, at least until the constitution is finalised. Any other coalition will be disastrous.
4 Agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood for a majority of Nepali people and it holds tremendous potential for poverty alleviation. However, agriculture in Nepal is still practiced mainly for subsistence. Ever since the evolution of planned development in the country, way back in 1956, agriculture has been accorded top priority, at least on paper by successive governments. Emphasis has always been given to the modernisation of agriculture and the use of improved technology. Most non-governmental actors—NGOs/ INGOs—too have been engaged in this business for a long time. However, nobody seems to have realised that simply supporting the production aspect of agriculture may not be enough for this sector to become competitive, especially when we are talking about the commercialisation of agriculture.
In this context, it is imperative to focus our attention on agribusiness management. We should start thinking of agriculture as a serious business and only can that solve the growing problem of unemployment and poverty. Commercialising the sector is a remedy for reducing growing trade deficit and most importantly, to feed the people of the country, which comes under the sovereign right of the people under the Interim Constitution and is expected to be included in the future constitution as well.
Business of agriculture
Despite the importance of agribusiness management in the country, it is very difficult to get a complete picture of it. Very little has been done by either the government, private sector or non-governmental organisations in this area. The Government of Nepal has since long realised the significance of agribusiness management and even brought a National Agriculture Policy 2004 to address the concerns of agribusiness. Following this, the Agribusiness Policy 2006 and Agribusiness Policy Implementation Procedure was formulated in 2008. An agribusiness promotion cell was opened in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative (MoAC). Now, there is a Marketing Development Directorate under the Department of Agriculture, which is mostly responsible for agribusiness management for the government.
The interest of the private sector on the promotion of agribusiness and its management is not that old. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is promoting projects like One Village One Product, which can be considered as a step towards that end. International non-governmental organisations like SNV, USAID, SDC have been engaged in commercialisation and promotion of agribusiness for a long time. However, despite the involvement of many organisations in this sector through different names and brands, its outcome and impact is yet not visible.
Acts, no actions
The various acts formulated by the government have mostly been confined to paper. Apart from making a few marketing outlets, declaring few commodities as export oriented and giving subsidies to few agriculture commodities, no substantial work has been done by concerned authorities. There are many flaws in the policies, such as there is no concept of complete chain management right from production up to consumption of any product. Marketing, production and distributions are viewed as separate entities in the whole chain management and its relationships are not considered. As a result, both producers (in our case mostly poor farmers) and consumers (mostly common people) are suffering. It is the intermediaries who does not add any value to the product (rather they reduce value) but are benefiting the most. By now, the government should have established chain management for most agro products and provided the necessary facilitation or intervention wherever required. While the private sector has done some wonderful work on agribusiness management, their activities have mostly been confined to limited areas and
people. Their work doesn’t have a wide circulation or wide effect.
In a gist, there is a complete
lack of coordination among the actors in agribusiness management in the country.
Money and manpower
In India, commercial banks give a sizeable loan to farmers for the development of agribusiness; in fact, they have agribusiness departments or sections in most commercial banks that look after the agriculture portfolio. The situation is completely different in Nepal. Private commercial banks do not provide loans to agribusiness schemes. For them, agriculture is not a priority. Had they emulated Indian banks, the state of agriculture in Nepal might have been very different.
Another sad reality in agriculture is that Nepal still lacks manpower in agribusiness management. In all other nations, the course of agribusiness management is very popular among students and the course is designed by government universities to suit local needs. It is good to see that HICAST (affiliated to Purbanchal University) has realised this importance and now provides the first-ever course at the higher level in agribusiness management. The Government of Nepal must recognise its importance and make immediate plans to recruit agribusiness experts. The private sector, in particular the banks, should also start providing loans to the agricultural sector.
Trade to sustain
In this age of trade and commerce, there is a reason why experts call for trade rather than aid. With an ever-increasing trade deficit, we have no alternative than to reduce that gap without exporting our potential agro products. We need a strong and ethical business culture in agriculture, for which agribusiness management is key. This is also the best means to raise livelihoods and alleviate poverty at a faster rate, as envisioned by the Millenium Development Goals. The living standards of hundreds of our farmers, poor and marginalised and residing in rural areas, can be raised. Agribusiness holds immense potential, as can be seen in youths who have returned from the Gulf countries and taken it up as a profession. The concerned authorities just need to create a favourable environment for it.
Pandey works at the Poverty Alleviation Fund
4 Owing to the rapid development of scientific technology, many people have today good access to different varieties of information resources. Of these, over the past decades, there has been a massive increase in the use of the internet. It is now an important part of our global culture. Due to its immense impact on human society, the internet is also being seen as a bright future for some. Although it is taken as a global communication system, many people are not content with its supplements, and thus, globally there has been a lot of talk about its censorship.
Governments and censorship
Since it first began in 1969 as ARPANET, a project sponsored by the US government, the internet has been expanding and evolving. Subsequently, government monitoring and regulations have also increased, with a number of countries restricting and censoring the internet in many ways. Censorship has universal appeal because it is a useful method to prevent users from creating ‘objectionable’ content and also keeping them from viewing online content that might violate social norms and values. Supporting this view, Craig Depken, associate professor at the University of Texas, states that “censorship is the moral or legislative process by which society ‘agrees’ to limit what an individual can do, say, think, or see”. The proponents of internet censorship, therefore, justify that managing or controlling online information is for the greater social benefit.
In order to address this ongoing issue, several research works have been carried out. But there is no common consensus on attitudes towards censoring the internet since different nation view it in different ways. The Communist government of China, for instance, exercises strict control over access to political and social issues and blocks many blogs and websites such as Wikipedia and Facebook. Similarly, British Prime Minister David Cameron declared, “We will block all online materials the British government deems objectionable and the users who wish to view ‘objectionable’ materials will have to opt in”. In purported support of children’s psychology and cognitive behaviour, the US Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) in 1998, asserting that those who publish pornography and other content deemed “harmful to minors” should limit access by using some form of age verification.
Looking closer at these cases, one could argue that every government has different motives for censoring online content. However, most technologically developed countries, including the US, Britain, China, Australia and Turkey, have agreed to censor some kinds of content relating to pornography, violence, terrorism, drug abuse, child abuse, gambling and political and religious affairs.
Banning pornography
Much research has identified a large proportion of people in favour of censoring pornographic and sexually explicit content. Even my own research, entitled ‘Attitudes of Overseas Students towards the Internet Censorship (2014)’ indicates that 80 percent of informants put down “pornography” as a major facet of online censorship. Similarly, a 2008 study by Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and Hasan Ozkan and Arda Arikan, research students of Hacettepe University, Turkey, came with 87 percent and 59 percent respectively in favour of forbidding online pornographic content.
If we analyse these figures, we can say that extreme exposure to such content not only violates the socio-cultural values of users but also stimulates them to commit rape and prostitution. A 1999 study by Azy Barak of the University of Haifa, Israel claims that exposure to extreme forms of internet pornography is one of the reasons behind why women are sexually abused by their male counterparts. Therefore, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Kenya, India, Cuba and China all ban pornography in some forms.
Violence and the internet
Violent content is another target that many people think should be controlled. In Fallows’ study, for example, 86 percent of Chinese agreed with banning violent content. My research has also highlighted such content as more dangerous and misleading than others. I still recall the devastating tragedy that Nepal faced in 2004 due to the widespread tragic news of the murder of 12 Nepalis in Iraq. Kathmandu would probably not have been in flames—caused by the extreme anger and aggression of thousands of Nepali towards the government and manpower companies—if a videotape showing the beheading of two Nepalis by Islamic militants was controlled.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon to hear that some people have been victimised due to online blackmailing and scandal in developing countries since the Internet can lure users into building wrong kinds of relationships. There are often news reports of people losing big amounts of money through online scams.
But even as the number of censored websites increases throughout the world, the voices of users and human rights activists are also rising against censorship. Some months back, the Turkish police used water cannons and fired teargas to disperse hundreds of protesters gathering at a rally against internet censorship laws. While online information might be deemed offensive to some users and acceptable to others, the strong desire of governments to limit access to such content is at the heart of debate.
Therefore, along with large scale research and analyses of the situation, new approaches to regulating online content should be developed by authorities to create a safe, secure and free way to access information, which should be seen as not an option but a necessity in today’s world. For this, all internet users and concerned entities, including the government, Internet providers, parents, and Internet cafes should be band together for regulations that are acceptable to all.
Sijapati is pursuing a Master’s in International Relations at Macquarie University, Australia
5 Secularism is a political ideology with a set of normative claims as to the relation between the state and religion. My understanding of secularism is based on two premises. First, political secularism means the state has no religion at all. Second, social secularism denotes religion entering into the domain of the individual private sphere from the public sphere so no one can interfere in it.
Nepal was declared a Hindu kingdom by the 1964 Constitution and the Panchayat system further demonstrated Nepal as a Hindu kingdom at the global level and created a nationalist feeling. This scenario continued more or less. Subsequently, however, pro-secularism voices were often heard from the Maoists. On February 4, 1996, Baburam Bhattarai and Pampha Bhusal submitted a 40-point memorandum to then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, which include the suspension of Nepal as a Hindu state and declaring it secular. Since the insurgency, secularism has been a political agenda of the Maoists and it later became part of the historic 12-point agreement.
When Nepal was declared a secular state by the 2007 Interim Constitution, voices of dissatisfaction were often heard. However, after the demise of the first Constituent Assembly (CA), the issue of secularism hasn’t been raised by the major political parties, whereas the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal led by Kamal Thapa, who contested the election on an anti-secularism plank, emerged as the fourth major political party in the second CA. Besides Kamal Thapa, none of the other political parties have openly opposed a secular state. And secularism was a political agenda of only the Maoists. After the 2006 Janaandolan, it seemed secularism became a political agenda of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML
too, not by choice but as a result of political bargaining.
Illusionary secularism
It has been more than five years since Nepal turned into a secular state. But it has remained so in theory, only because the head of state and other government office bearers still follow traditional Hindu rituals. Similarly, a provision in the Muluki Ain remains unchanged. Number 11 of Chapter 7 states that a person who knowingly kills a cow shall be jailed for 12 years. The punishment for instigating the killing of a cow is six months in jail. We have been practicing secularism in theory but not in practice. The achievement of a secular Nepal so far has been that the number of Hindu holidays has declined and the government has declared holidays for the indigenous communities, Christians and Muslims as public ones. According to the 2011 census, 10 major religions are practiced in Nepal, among which Hinduism is followed by 81.3 percent of the population. Buddhism, Islam, Kirat, Christianity and Prakriti are followed by 9 percent, 4.4 percent, 3.1 percent, 1.4 percent and 0.5 percent of the population, respectively.
The 1959 Constitution of Nepal upheld the principle of equality and gave citizens the freedom to practice and profess their own religion. However, the 1962 Constitution declared Nepal a Hindu kingdom. The question is why was there a need to declare Nepal a Hindu kingdom? There could be three reasons. First, maintaining the identity of the country as Hindu. Second, as the 1962 Constitution has mentioned the king as being an adherent of the Hindu religion, declaring Nepal a Hindu kingdom would symbolise king’s rule. Third, the 1960s were a period when lots of Christian missionaries came to Nepal. So it could be that the state was afraid that they would encourage religious conversion and felt the need to assert Nepal as a Hindu kingdom.
After the declaration of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom, the new Muluki Ain was promulgated, which removed to some extent discrimination on the basis of religion and caste. But demands to turn Nepal into a secular state were not heard often. This scenario continued till 1990. When the 1990 Constitution was being drafted, the Nepal Buddhist Association called for a secular state by organising a demonstration on the streets of Kathmandu. However, its demand was rejected and the 1990 Constitution declared Nepal a multiethnic, multilingual, democratic, independent, sovereign Hindu constitutional monarchical kingdom.
It is often argued that secularism promotes political protection of religious minorities. It is also believed that secularism brings a sense of security and equity to religious minorities. Perhaps religious minorities view a secular state as the guardian of minority rights against the religious majority.
However, it’s not easy for Nepal to implement secularism as the concept itself has so many approaches, which has led to different models of secularism. It’s very unfortunate that political parties have not realised the importance of debating secularism.
Common questions
During conversations among Hindu citizens, I have come across a few common voices regarding the way of life under secularism in Nepal, and the discussion ends with a few unanswered questions: (1) What will be the fate of secularism in new Nepal?; (2) Even if secularism is promulgated though the new constitution, will the rituals being followed for years continue?; (3) Will people accept a Muslim leader as the President and continue to take blessings from him during the Dashain festival?; (4) Will a Muslim leader, if President, continue to follow the ritual of giving blessings during Dashain, which is considered to be the biggest Hindu festival?; and (5) Even though Hinduism has been followed and practiced overwhelmingly, didn’t other religions receive considerable respect in the past?
The basic idea behind secularism is keeping the state away from religion. So the question is does the state become secular once it is kept away from religion or if society is secularised as well? In a county where 80 percent of the people are Hindu, the idea of imposing a secular state would only lead to a secular state, not secular citizens. Therefore, Nepal’s non-Hindu citizens do not have a desire for secularism.
However, the people’s representatives believe that a modern constitution needs a secular state. So Nepal needs a model of secularism that unites the nation, and for this, serious debates on the model of secularism are required. But recent developments show that the political parties are not willing to discuss this issue and it is likely to be sidelined. Thus, hoping for debates on the model of secularism in Nepal in the CA seems to be futile.
6 It’s been an honor to visit Nepal and have the opportunity to see firsthand the extraordinary progress of one of USAID’s closest development partners. I met local scientists who are harnessing satellite remote sensing data to help communities adapt to climate change—so that farmers can estimate crop yields and plan ahead. And I presented an award to the Ministry of Health for its leadership in adopting innovative health solutions like chlorhexidine—a life-saving medical gel that was created right here in Nepal and has cut the risk of infant death by 23 percent.
Halving poverty
It is not hard to see why Nepal is only one of just eight fragile states to have successfully halved extreme poverty ahead of the 2015 target for the Millennium Development Goal. In just seven years, between 2003 and 2011, the extreme poverty rate fell from 53 percent to 24.8 percent. This enables a new generation of Nepali children to grow up in dignity and security—knowing they’ll have a fair shot in their future.
Thanks to a history of progress and new advances in science and technology, Nepal stands within reach of ending extreme poverty and securing a foundation for long-term economic growth. But this future is not inevitable. Today, almost 8 million Nepalis get by on less than $1.25 a day. For them, every decision is a trade-off with potentially catastrophic consequences. Do you buy medicines for a sick parent, provide an evening meal for your children or put a few pennies away towards a new roof or next year’s school fees? These questions are an everyday reality, especially for Nepal’s subsistence farmers, for whom extreme poverty is not just a statistic but a drain on their basic human dignity.
We can end extreme poverty for these 8 million Nepalis. We can end it for 26,000 children who die every year before the age of five. And we can end it for the 41 percent of all children who are stunted. But it will take partnership, innovation, and a strong commitment to policy reform. Indeed, it will take a new model of development.
A new model
The new model of development is partnering with the engines of growth—from companies to local entrepreneurs—to build inclusive economies and vibrant civil societies.
Growth tied to gains in agricultural productivity—we know—is up to three times more effective at raising the incomes of the poor than growth from any other sector. This is absolutely true here in Nepal, where 75 percent of the population makes its livelihoods in agriculture. That’s why we are working to improve nutrition and incomes for one million Nepalis.
Armed with new research on high-yield, climate-resilient maize varieties from Nepali centres, we’ve trained over 200 community groups in seed production. Perhaps most exciting, several of these groups have even grown to become full-fledged private seed companies. As a result, 50,000 rural families have generated an additional $1 million in sales—as maize yields nationwide have improved by 36 percent.
But raising incomes means little if families don’t have access to loans to grow their businesses or bank accounts to help save money for school fees. By partnering with local banks, we’ve helped catalyse and expand mobile banking services—and given families the opportunity to pay loans, transfer money or receive their salary right on their phone.
In the last year alone, banks served more than 19,000 new clients and disbursed over $2.3 million in rural loans to almost 8,000 borrowers—most of whom were women. Today, Nepali private sector leaders estimate that mobile financial services will reach all 75 districts within five years—enormous progress in a country where 70 percent of Nepali families don’t have a bank account.
Political will
Business and technology alone are not enough to end extreme poverty or accelerate economic growth. Political leadership and policy reform are essential to drive investment to the regions and sectors where it will have the biggest impact on extreme poverty.
We know that policy reforms are not easy. Cracking down on corruption and nepotism is not easy. Cutting off the vested interests in state monopolies is not easy. But these steps will help pave the way for sustainable economic growth—the very growth Nepal needs to lift millions from extreme poverty.
Six decades ago, Nepal and the United States first came together to build a new future for all Nepalis. We helped Nepal lay its first roads and installed its first telephone exchange. Our commitment remains just as strong today.
But ultimately, every nation must pursue its own path to prosperity. It will be the people of Nepal and their leadership that determine how fast and how far this beautiful and enterprising nation will travel.
7 From time to time, brain drain comes into discussion as something that contributes to slowing the country’s development. On occasions, people are found speaking from the podium words to curse those who, despite being subsidised by the government until their graduation, do not trouble coming back after they receive a degree abroad. Not only the people here, but also those in the developed countries consider this trend to be a hurdle to the development of the undeveloped countries. That’s why many international funding agencies which provide study grants to citizens from the developing countries seek a pledge from the applicants that they have intentions to return to their homes after their study or training is over.
Every year, a few hundred students from among some thousands in the queue become successful in positioning themselves as prospective students in foreign universities. Those rejected at their first attempt continue their efforts for some more years and may achieve the desired success in course of time. Many of these applicants have been educated at subsidised fees at Tribhuvan University or at least have been provided a learning platform by the country itself. The fact is that only a few of those who move abroad for higher studies actually come back to Nepal. Instead of fighting against the numerous problems in the country like those caused by political instability, unemployment, low income and so forth, they choose to contend with cultural and racial bias in a foreign land to earn a livelihood there. Very few may be willing to return to live in the home country.
Those choosing to come back too have not been facing a good fate. They are too old to apply for most jobs and are compelled to suffer unemployment despite their higher degrees like PhD. Many employers assume them to be persons who have lost their enthusiasm to work due to their age. Other returnees are scared to apply for a job if case they would not be able to meet the high expectations of their potential employers due to their high qualifications. Whether an employee with such a high degree or level of skill is their real need is always a question for them. I have met with a number of such graduates living miserable lives in the capital searching for employment that is “not bad”.
If on the one hand those who do not leave the country for higher studies or those who are educated here are treated as lacking ability by the state and their employers, on the other hand people having international degrees are being ignored. This situation has been encouraging youths to depart for foreign destinations and discouraging those who want to come back to serve the motherland. Therefore, if the reluctance of those who have gone away to return home is our concern, efforts must be put in by the state to retain within the country the graduates who have been educated here and abroad.
8 The South Asian tradition is such that a reputable last name can make life easier in many instances. But in careers where the common people are able to decide your fate, the utility of a famous last name can only help initially, after that you are on your own. I am certain that if Manisha Koirala hadn’t delivered award-winning performances in films like Bombay and Dil Se, she would have sunk into oblivion. In fact, the film industry sees many such star sons and daughters failing to carry forward the legacy of their illustrious fathers and mothers.
Last week, Sushil Koirala was sworn in as the 37th Prime Minister of Nepal. And there were rumours floating around that he once aspired to be an actor in Hollywood. Perhaps he could have made it big in Hollywood or like Manisha Koirala, in Bollywood, a challenging task on its own. But now that Sushil Koirala has made it to the top executive post, he will find it no less demanding.
Roadblocks ahead
The following challenges, unless dealt with priority, can pose problems for both constitution writing and Sushil Koirala’s government. The first challenge is running day-to-day governance affairs together with the CPN-UML as a coalition partner. In just a week, the two parties have succeeded in reviving the bitter old memories of the 1990s. The second challenge is to manage the intra-party differences with Sher Bahadur Deuba and keep him pacified.
The third challenge is the opposition, comprising of the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhes-based parties, who are likely to be the fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) if they unite. The reduction in size of these parties should not be seen as a weakening of their organisational strength, particularly in case of the UCPN (Maoist). The fourth challenge is Koirala’s overzealous commitment to complete constitution writing in a record one-year time, along with holding local elections. As of now, the NC has not even reached out to opposing fringe parties in the CA regarding the adoption of issues agreed upon by the previous CA, including the declaration of a republic. It is ironic that while new lawmakers were raising this issue of whether to declare Nepal a republic once again, Sushil Koirala was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
The Koirala privilege
It would do well for Koirala to remember that late Girija Prasad Koirala was a giant on his own but he was not BP Koirala. Had Girija emulated the ways of BP, he would have never made a separate name in Nepali politics. He left behind a legacy of a republican Nepal for everyone to revere. Sushil Koirala might be tempted to tread the Girija path and take a firm stand on issues. But doing so demands a complete hold on party structure, experience in cadre-level politics and most importantly, an attitude to be prepared to pay any price for one’s conviction.
Sushil Koirala, however, was only involved in the planning unit of the
NC for a long time where he did not face direct dissent. As prime minister, he will be held accountable for executive decisions. It is also time for him to speak out in public about his conviction on constitution writing. A backlash from the fringe
parties vis-a-vis constitution writing can be a costly deal. It would also do well for Koirala to remember that he is the leader of the largest party, not a directly-elected prime minister. Akin to star sons and daughters, he does have a last name advantage which helped him become executive head. But without a concrete outcome that can convince the populace, these advantages will quickly vanish.
Three options
Finally is the PM clear about his ultimate goal, the legacy that he would like to leave behind? In my view, the PM has three alternative legacies to choose from, the rest is his call to make.
Legacy one: Sushil Koirala revives the politics of 1990s.
(I am aware that there are people who still believe that blatant corruption, nepotism and horse-trading did not exist in the 1990s and it was no less than a democratic heaven. But the truth is, the only thing that mattered then was who held the post of the PM, everything else had little value.)
Legacy two: Sushil Koirala engages in the pointless exercise of holding local elections so that the NC and UML can reap the benefit of being in the government but fails to write a constitution.
(The fight for the Home Ministry is not a coincidence or an old habit. It is about who holds sway over the government machinery in case local elections are held. This is again similar to the Nepal of the 1990s.)
Legacy three: PM Koirala understands the political mandate of the new CA and commits himself and the NC to the constitution-writing process, taking everyone on the board including the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhes-based parties.
Sushil Koirala has an opportunity to leave a legacy for which he will be remembered for generations to come but only if he quickly takes a decision. The politics of the 1990s doesn’t allow enough time for the executive head to relish the premiership.
8 The relief that Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was at last able to put together a Cabinet was dampened somewhat by the fact that it was inclusivity-challenged. One does not want ceremonial tokenism when it comes to the executive function but the weight of the Bahun community is heavy on this government, representing 13 percent of the population but with 50 percent presence in the Cabinet. Among the 21 ministers named thus far, three have the surname ‘Acharya’.
The suggestion that pandits make natural leaders because of learning and power of oratory no longer holds. There are enough national-level leaders from the Janajati and Madhesi fold within the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML who make the grade. But weak and fractured leadership within the two lead parties, and the in-extremis jousting during the government formation, seem to have made them forget the campaign for identity waged over much of the last decade.
The intelligentsia and media, which could have influenced the debate, were transfixed by the acrimony that erupted unexpectedly between the NC and UML right after the election results were announced. First, the UML decided to press for election of Head of State, not having raised the matter before. Once that was sorted out, it was the NC’s turn to create a ruckus by refusing to give the Home Ministry portfolio to the UML. There was no other way but for the two parties to go into coalition embrace but needless damage was done to their relationship, so vital for constitution writing.
Amidst the power play, it was every ministerial candidate for himself and no one was talking of a capable and inclusive Cabinet. Certainly, the Congress leaders were not looking back to the 1959 government of Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala, whose colleagues were: Subarna Shumshere, Ganesh Man Singh, SP Upahyaya, Ram Narayan Mishra, Parashu Narayan Chowdhury, Shiva Raj Pant, Tulsi Giri, Min Bahadur Gurung, Prem Raj Angdambe, Suryanath Das Yadav, Shiva Pratap Shah, Dwarika Devi Thakurani, Yogendra Man Sherchan, Lalit Chand, Dewan Singh Rai, Jaman Singh Gurung and Neb Bahadur Malla.
We have regressed some over the past half-century. Of course, a country with such enthralling diversity cannot have all communities represented in a Cabinet but here, even cohorts have been neglected. One Dalit, two Madhesis, two women and three Janajatis in a Cabinet of (thus far) of 21 is not something to be proud of.
As the critical task of constitution writing looms, it is best to regard this non-inclusivity as an aberration, hoping that the new government after the constitution promulgation will better represent the electorate. And we may also count our blessings vis-à-vis the Koirala cabinet: it is small in size and marks the movement towards the polity’s ‘normalisation’, being answerable to the elected Parliament.
While the Constituent Assembly begins work on the drafting, Koirala should get cracking on governance. This writer’s shortlist of urgent and pending matters include the following—Chure destruction, rights accountability, foreign affairs and local
elections.
Chure plunder
The ransacking of the Chure (Shivalik), the first line of low hills in the Tarai, has continued unchecked for nearly a decade (as also reported recently in extensio in Nagarik daily). The construction boom in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has spurred this plunder, including the building of highways above the flood line. Rather than go south to the Deccan, rock and boulder contractors came north, invading the Chure. The resulting devastation sets the stage for desertification of the Nepali Tarai and flash floods further downstream, also reducing aquifer recharge all over.
Realising the extent of the upcoming calamity, in 2010, President Ram Baran Yadav convinced the government to start what is known the President’s Chure Conservation Programme. However, not much seems to have been achieved despite much money down the dry riverbed. On Wednesday, Congress lawmakers Gagan Thapa, Ganesh Mandal and Sunil Yadav (Kathmandu, Siraha, Rauthat) castigated the authorities for lack of movement on the Chure environment. The alertness of the three MPs is hopefully a harbinger of revived parliamentary process, with people’s representatives once again beginning to direct and watchdog government.
Back to accountability
The new government has its work cut out in terms of reviving the criminal justice system, which has been run to the ground by the Maoist juggernaut. The police, district attorneys as well as the entire court system have been weakened, the proof of it to be found in the disinclination to pursue conflict-era atrocities by both state and insurgents. A case in point is the police refusing to provide fortnightly reports as demanded by the Supreme Court on the case against UCPN (Maoist) spokesman Agni Sapkota (re the murder of Arjun Bahadur Lama).
Today is the 127th day of a hunger strike satyagraha by Nanda Prasad and Gangamaya Adhikari. The special investigation team headed by police DIG Ganesh Rai does not seem to have visited the place of the murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari in 2004, at Bakular Chowk in Chitwan. Other police officers claim that the killers have been identified but are not moving beyond that. They are obviously waiting for instructions from on high, and so, as the couple becomes weaker (kept alive by intravenous protein feed), all eyes are on Prime Minister Koirala and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam.
Foreign shambles
Nepal’s international affairs have been in continuous decline during the ‘transitional period’ since 2006, quite a deceleration for a sovereign country. Ambassadorial appointments have been a national embarrassment, Barakhamba Road in Delhi has been devoid of a plenipotentiary for three years running and the pressing demand for diplomatic representation in the Gulf states and Malaysia (to serve more than two million migrant workers) has not been met. The past few years saw the two neighbours muscle in on the polity, even as donor organisations defined the terrain on which they would operate in Nepal, including in constitution-writing itself.
Nepal needs to convince the world that this society is resilient and that it is on the mend following the November 19 elections. The Koirala government must ramp up diplomacy to bring Nepal’s image up to where it truly represents the people’s spirit, so that the economy gets a boost and—inshallah!—our passport gets more respect. Let us hope that there will be enough to show by the time of the Saarc Summit, which Kathmandu gets to host in November this year.
Electing locally
Elections for local government (villages, districts and municipalities) have become critical. The last polls were held 16 years ago and we have not had elected local representatives for 11 years. This has led to a distortion in our democracy, corrupted political actors from the villages on up, derailed development works and blocked services from reaching the poorest.
Prime Minister Koirala has promised local elections by April-May and the donor community fortunately is active on this front, but the shoals are visible. Some Madhesi leaders and the UCPN (Maoist) as a whole are dead-set against local elections in the spring, and their resistance needs to be overcome. There is also the danger that the UML as the main coalition partner will become preoccupied with its upcoming general convention, enough to push back elections. Those who worry that local polls will vitiate the constitutional agenda need to be convinced that only some district boundaries could change (if at all), for which provisos can be made. The citizenry at the grassroots in mountain, hill and plain cannot be short-changed any longer.
9
During the good old days, pure and abundant water flowed in the Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers of Kathmandu which nourished a civilisation based on devotional and rich cultural activities. The citizens of the capital city used to have wonderful early morning activities taking sacred baths in these rivers and conducting early morning prayers and worship. This routine now seems to be distant history beyond imagination today as these rivers have turned into stinking open sewers. When we embarked on a thoughtless construction spree in the Kathmandu valley that cared little about the valuable cultural legacy, environmental health and essence of the river ecosystem, the Bagmati and Bishnumati river civilisation saw a sad demise.
Those were the days when the Kathmandu valley’s rivers were filled with crystal clear water where people dived and swam. Fishermen caught fish by casting their nets in the rivers, and brought them in baskets to sell in the city’s bazaars. Devotees performed sacred ceremonies on the river banks and bathed in the water. The sand on the riverbed could be seen through the water. These days, we have to wait for the monsoon floods for the rivers to rise, but we can see the flow of murky water only for a few days. The rest of the year, the rivers are motionless and stink with no sign of vital aquatic life. As far as I remember, I myself used to drink water taken from the Bagmati River just below my house at Gothatar VDC. Now the times have changed. When I can’t even immerse my feet in the river’s water, it would be foolish to talk about the purity of the Bagmati’s water and if it’s fit for drinking. Much has been talked and written about cleaning up the Bagmati River in the Kathmandu valley. Still the pathetic plight of the people residing near the Bagmati River continues to grow.
According to a report, a clean-up campaign has been launched with the aim of regaining Bagmati’s previous glory. Various stakeholders including the city authorities, government ministries and line agencies have been working constantly to clean up the river by picking up garbage and plastic bags thrown into the water. The campaign’s aim to make the river water potable within a stipulated time frame will not be possible to achieve as long as waste water and other undesirable materials are dumped into the river. The discharge from sewage pipes contaminated with human waste is the main cause of pollution in the Bagmati River. I live near the Bagmati River; and have witnessed several factors destroying the ecosystem of the Bagmati and other rivers in the Kathmandu valley. In my opinion, as long as we fail to garner support from the people residing along the entire length of the Bagmati, high-sounding slogans and propaganda about cleaning up the river will remain only a distant dream.
10 The two weeks it took to put together the Cabinet took a heavy toll on the standing of both the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, embroiled as each was with factional tugs-of-war even while trying to bring the presumptive coalition partner to heel. We finally have in place a more-or-less full Cabinet and the matter seems to have been resolved. For now at least, since the headlines the next day bespoke what could lie in store for the government. ‘CPN-UML Team Draws Flak for Non-MPs Selection’ said one, ‘Discontent within Congress’ said another, ‘UML Lower Rungs in Rift over Cabinet Names’ said a third.
Nothing out of the ordinary for one inured to the rough-and-tumble of Nepali politics but certainly not a good portent for the country’s future and the drafting of the constitution. Neither is it a good sign that the Cabinet failed to be more representative of the population, dealing a big blow to the main mantra of post-2006 politics—inclusion—and the NC Vice-Chairperson apparently even voiced his concerns about the matter to the Prime Minister.
Women, Madhesis and Janajatis were provided the kind of representation that screamed tokenism in the new government. But, in terms of the signal it sends out, what stood out was the UML finding a place for just one Madhesi leader in the Cabinet, which was, of course, totally in character for a party that laid out the diktat that every male CA member has to be clad in daura-suruwal, one of the pet peeves of Madhesi politics. For the government, what is more shameful is that it failed to find a single person from Karnali.
One certainly understands that the task of putting together the Cabinet itself was so onerous that the very fact that we have one is a wonder, other concerns be damned. The majority of our governments since 1990 have been coalitions. For some reason, coming up with a government seems to have become tougher with the years. That is probably because even when consisting of just one party, the Cabinet has always been a coalition of competing factions within the party and positions keep shifting. In that sense, what we now have is a coalition of coalitions and the limited number of Cabinet posts available for doling out means that one or another leader is currently sulking in the corner of each party. And there is no saying how that disgruntlement will manifest in the future.
The UML show
Take the example of the UML and the goings-on therein. The latest issue of the newsmagazine, Himal, has a very useful timeline to show the ebb and flow of the relationship between the two leaders at the centre of the UML fracas: the former prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and the prime minister-in-waiting, KP Oli. It deals with the recent past only since recounting the whole history of this ongoing drama would require more than a timeline.
Dramatis personae
1. Jhala Nath Khanal: Chairperson
2. Madhav Kumar Nepal: Senior Leader (that actually being his rank in the party, whether inspired by North Korea’s penchant for ‘Leaders’ yet to be determined)
3. KP Oli: Senior Leader (ditto)
4. Bamdev Gautam: Vice-Chairperson
5. Ishwor Pokharel: General Secretary
The play
Act I: February 2009. Khanal defeats Oli to become Chairperson of the CPN-UML; Khanal is supported by Gautam and Pokharel while Oli has the backing of Nepal.
Act II: May 2009. Nepal becomes prime minister with the support of Oli.
Act III: Early 2010. With Khanal’s support, Gautam leads a signature campaign against the Nepal-led government; Oli remains steadfastly with Nepal.
Act IV: February 2011. Khanal becomes prime minister against Nepal’s and
Oli’s wishes.
Act V: End of 2011. Khanal and Oli reach ‘internal unity’; Nepal unhappy.
Act VI: 2012. Warming of ties between Oli and Pokharel, driving Khanal and Nepal to each other.
Act VII: Run-up to November 2013 election. Oli openly attacks Khanal and Nepal for selecting candidates without consulting him.
Act VIII, Scene I: February 1, 2014, Gautam comes out in support of Oli in the election of the UML parliamentary party leader.Act VIII, Scene II: Oli defeats Khanal to become the UML parliamentary party leader.
The next act will unfold when the UML holds its overdue national convention with both Nepal and Oli having declared their intention to contest the leadership of the UML. May the better man win and lead the UML and the country to glory. Except that there is hardly any chance of that happening. All the shifting of allegiances the party saw at the highest levels in the past five years was hardly a clash of ideas or ideals, or at least we did not hear of any. Each man was on the lookout for himself in this blatant game of one-upmanship.
Not quite the same
Coming back to the present, it seems like the Deputy Speakership of the legislature is going to be the preserve of women. The three consecutive legislatures have seen women occupying the largely ornamental Deputy’s chair, with no indication that an upward shift is likely anytime soon.
The one positive message from the formation of the new Cabinet is that women ministers have been given the portfolios of education and energy. That’s an encouraging move away from relegating women to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare only. Of course, with a woman having headed the Defence Ministry earlier, the gendered division no longer holds. One would similarly have expected the participation of Dalits in government to be routine as well, and that was exactly what happened.
We will soon see the dynamics at play within the Cabinet. How Prime Minister Sushil Koirala will contend with the literally looming presence of his deputy, Bamdev Gautam, will probably set the tone of the government. The start has not been all that auspicious, with the latter having been turned into a bogeyman by the NC and his presumed ability to swing the supposedly planned-for local elections in his party’s favour.
Here, one is forced to ask why is it that the NC, the UML or the Maoists have not set out to create an institutional structure where the results of any election is not dependent or depends very little on who controls the administrative machinery. To remind them all of their promise when signing the 12-point agreement in November 2005,
the seventh point states: “Making a self-assessment towards the mistakes and weaknesses committed while staying in the Government and parliament in the past, the seven political parties have expressed their commitment for not repeating such mistakes and weaknesses now onwards.” (Granted that the Maoists not having been in government till then they were required to made party to the pledge, but having been sullied by power by now they, too, are morally bound to its spirit.)
Any hanky-panky during elections surely counts as ‘mistakes and weaknesses...while …in government’, and not to be repeated. Unfortunately, the aim of the NC seems to have been to keep Gautam at bay rather than opt for some kind of correction in the system itself.
1 More than 10 assailants slashed scores of people with knives at a train station in southern China in what officials said Sunday was a terrorist assault by ethnic separatists from the far west. Twenty-nine slash victims and four attackers were killed and 143 people wounded.
Police fatally shot four of the assailants, captured one and were searching for the others following the attack late Saturday at the Kunming train station in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. State broadcaster CCTV said at least two of the attackers were women — one of the slain and the one who was captured and later brought to a hospital for treatment.
Witnesses described assailants dressed in black storming the train station and slashing people indiscriminately with large knives and machetes.
Student Qiao Yunao, 16, was waiting to catch a train at the station when people started crying out and running, and then saw a man cut another man's neck, drawing blood.
"I was freaking out, and ran to a fast food store, and many people were running in there to take refuge," she told The Associated Press via Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblog. "I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could."
The attackers' identities have not been confirmed, but evidence at the scene showed that it was "a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces," Xinhua quoted the municipal government as saying.
Xinhua said that in addition to the four attackers who died, 29 civilians were killed and 143 wounded.
A heavy contingent of armed police patrolled in and around the railway station Sunday afternoon, but its ticket window was back in operation and cleanup crews disinfected the area with spray. A local woman laid a bunch of yellow lilies and other flowers near a bull statue in front of the station.
"This is to express our condolences for the victims and to show we have no fear in the face of violence," said the woman, who gave her name only as Guo.
The far western region of Xinjiang is home to a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule by some members of the Muslim Uighur (pronounced WEE'-gur) population, and the government has responded with heavy-handed security.
Most attacks blamed on Uighur separatists take place in Xinjiang, where clashes between ethnic Uighurs and members of China's ethnic Han majority are frequent, but Saturday's assault happened more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the southeast in Yunnan, which has not had a history of such unrest.
However, a suicide car attack blamed on three ethnic Uighurs that killed five people, including the attackers, at Beijing's Tiananmen Gate in October raised alarms that militants could be changing tactics and aiming to strike at soft targets elsewhere in China.
Sean Roberts, a cultural anthropologist at George Washington University who has studied Uighurs and China for two decades, said the Kunming violence would be a new kind of attack for ethnic Uighurs — premeditated and outside Xinjiang — but still rudimentary in weaponry.
"If it is true that it was carried out by Uighurs, it's much different than anything we've seen to date," Roberts said by phone.
But he added that it is still unclear whether there is any organized Uighur militant group, and that attacks so far do not appear linked to any "global terrorist network, because we're not seeing things like sophisticated explosives or essentially sophisticated tactics."
In an indication of how seriously authorities viewed the attack — one of China's deadliest in recent years — the country's top police official, Politburo member Meng Jianzhu, arrived in Kunming on Sunday and went straight to the hospital to visit the wounded, Xinhua reported.
The violence in Kunming came at a sensitive time, with political leaders in Beijing preparing for Wednesday's opening of the annual legislature, where the government of President Xi Jinping will deliver its first one-year work report.
Xi called for "all-out efforts" to bring the culprits to justice. In a statement, the Security Management Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security said that police will "crack down the crimes in accordance with the law without any tolerance."
Willy Lam, a political observer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the attack coming so close to the annual National People's Congress dented Xi's message of a "Chinese Dream" coalescing under his rule.
"Pockets of dissatisfaction, groups of people with grievances, appear to be increasing. After 1 1/2 years of more heavy-handed control (in Xinjiang), the report card does not look good," Lam said.
The attack was the deadliest violence attributed to Uighur-Han conflicts since riots in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi in 2009, in which Uighurs stormed the streets of the city, targeting Han people in seemingly random violence that included killing women and children. A few days later, Han vigilante mobs armed with sticks and bats attacked Uighurs in the same city. Nearly 200 people died.
2 President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday that military intervention in Ukraine would lead to "costs," as tension with old foe President Vladimir Putin rose in a Cold War-style crisis.
"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine," he told reporters.
Obama and European leaders would consider skipping a G8 summit this summer in the Russian city of Sochi if Moscow intervenes militarily in Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said. The G8 includes the world's seven leading industrial nations and Russia.
"The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine," Obama said in the White House briefing room.
Facing yet another confrontation with Putin after butting heads with him over Syria, Obama said any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "deeply destabilizing."
Obama did not spell out what he meant by Russian military intervention.
Russia has a huge naval base in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and says it has the right to move troops in Ukraine under an agreement between the two former Soviet neighbors.
U.S. officials said they saw indications of Russian troop movements into Crimea but that their numbers and intentions were unclear.
The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Rogers, said in a statement: "It appears that the Russian military now controls the Crimean peninsula."
Vice President Joe Biden called Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Friday "to reaffirm the United States' strong support for the new government and our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine," the White House said.
The crisis has presented Obama with a difficult challenge days after the ouster of Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine's pro-Moscow president, who fled to Russia following three months of protests in Kiev.
Armed men took control of two airports in the Crimea region in what the new Ukrainian leadership described as an invasion by Moscow's forces, and Yanukovich surfaced in Russia a week after he fled Kiev.
Ukraine fell into political crisis last year when Yanukovich spurned a broad trade deal with the European Union and accepted a $15 billion Russian bailout that is now in question.
A U.S. response to any Russian intervention in Ukraine could include avoiding deeper trade and commerce ties that Moscow is seeking, the senior U.S. official said.
Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now at the Brookings Institution think tank, said it was inconceivable that the United States would consider a military response were Russia to seek to gain control of Crimea, and that it had few plausible options to oppose such a move.
"If you look at the U.S.-Russian relationship, what kinds of things could we do to punish them? There are not a lot of good levers there," he added.
Putin has proved immune to U.S. calls for Moscow to stop supporting Syria's government in its three-year-old civil war. And the United States was unable to prevent Putin from staging Russian incursions into neighboring Georgia in 2008.
IMF SEES NO PANIC
In the struggle between the West and Russia for influence in Ukraine, both sides are wielding money.
Putin last year offered $15 billion for Kiev, $3 billion of which has been delivered, in what was widely seen as a reward for Yanukovich's turning away from the EU deal.
Now, support from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund is seen as critical to shoring up Ukraine's collapsing finances. The United States and the EU say they are willing to provide funds alongside an IMF program.
Russia also supports the fund's involvement, and an IMF team is set to arrive in Kiev early next week to collect information and start working on a loan program.
But IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Friday suggested there was no rush to help Ukraine, which says it needs $35 billion over two years to avoid default and may need $4 billion immediately.
"We do not see anything that is critical, that is worthy of panic at the moment," Lagarde told reporters. "We would certainly hope that the (Ukrainian) authorities refrain from throwing lots of numbers which are really meaningless until they've been assessed properly."
U.S. lawmakers are hammering out details of an assistance package for Ukraine. Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on European affairs, said the package would be part of a broader, coordinated program with the EU, the IMF and other international partners.
"I encourage the new government to implement the necessary economic reforms to stabilize the economy and set Ukraine on a path to prosperity, including rooting out corruption and increasing transparency in government finances," Murphy said.
Republican Senator John McCain, a long-time Putin critic, said diplomatic and economic sanctions could be imposed. But Putin does not fear the United States, he told CNN.
3 A major Chinese government news service used a racist slur to describe the departing American ambassador in a mean-spirited editorial on Friday that drew widespread public condemnation in China.
The article — which called Gary Locke a "rotten banana," a guide dog for the blind, and a plague — reflected Chinese nationalists' acute loathing toward the first Chinese-American to have been Washington's top envoy to Beijing.
Locke's ethnic background particularly interested the Chinese government and people. Locke won public applause when he was seen carrying his own bag and flying economy class but he drew criticism from Beijing as his demeanor was an unwelcome contrast to Chinese officials' privileges and entitlements.
In Washington, top diplomat John Kerry paid tribute to Locke as "a champion of human dignity and a relentless advocate for America's values." Asked about the China News Service commentary, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Friday: "We are not going to dignify the name-calling in that editorial with a response."
In his 2½ years in Beijing, Locke oversaw the defusing of two delicate diplomatic episodes when a powerful police chief fled to a U.S. consulate and later when a persecuted blind activist sought shelter in the embassy. The Chinese public also credit him with making them realize the harm of the tiny pollutant PM2.5 and severity of China's foul air by posting the embassy's hourly readings of air quality.
Meanwhile, the editorials in Chinese state media turned from initial reservation to unfriendliness to the insolence of the final piece.
"I think it shows the unfriendliness and impoliteness by the Chinese government toward Gary Locke, and it is without the manners and dignity of a major power," legal scholar Hao Jinsong said. "It is unfitting of China's status as a diplomatic power. As a Chinese, I am very angry and feel ashamed of it."
The editorial "Farewell, Gary Locke" took direct aim at Locke's identity as a third-generation Chinese-American, calling him a "banana" — a racial term for Asians identifying with Western values despite their skin color.
"But when a banana sits out for long, its yellow peels will always rot, not only revealing its white core but also turning into the stomach-churning color of black," read the editorial.
The author Wang Ping — likely a pseudonym — slammed Locke's portrayal as an official judicious with public funds but criticized him for being hypocritical as he retreated into his multimillion-dollar official residence and special-made, bullet-proof luxury vehicle.
Wang belittled Locke's inability to speak his ancestral language and accused him of failing to understand China's law but fanning "evil winds" in the ethnically sensitive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
"Not only did he run around by himself, he even served as a guide dog for the blind when he took in the so-called blind rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng and led him running," the editorial said. Chen later was allowed to leave China and now lives in the United States.
The editorial made a malicious Chinese curse at Locke, suggesting Locke's Chinese ancestors would expel him from the family clan should they know his behaviors.
Wang also made the innuendo that Locke should be blamed for the smog. "When he arrived, so did Beijing's smog," Wang wrote. "With his departure, Beijing's sky suddenly turned blue."
"Let's bid goodbye to the smog, and let's bid goodbye to the plague. Farewell, Gary Locke," ended the article, which was clearly inspired by Mao Zedong's 1949 piece, "Farewell, Leighton Stuart," that scoffed at the last American ambassador under the collapsing Nationalist government in Nanjing.
The piece shocked members of the Chinese public, who denounced the editorial as distasteful and offensive.
"This article by China News Service is the most shameless I have ever seen — not one of them but the most shameless," the popular online commentator Yao Bo said. "Without him, we probably still would not have known what PM2.5 is, and how did he bring the smog? You have played the snake in the Farmer and the Viper."
Another commentator Fastop Liu, known for his sharp tongue, said the piece is ungraceful. "When you call him a plague, you become a national shame as you lack diplomatic etiquette, damage the manner of a great power, and lose the face of all Chinese," Liu wrote.
Locke gave his final news conference as ambassador on Thursday. His replacement, former Montana Sen. Max Baucus, was sworn in last week and is expected to arrive within weeks.
5 Authorities in Switzerland announced Friday they have launched a corruption probe against Ukraine's fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Aleksander, and blocked all the potential assets that might be hidden in the Alpine nation.
The Geneva prosecutors' office said in a statement that the criminal investigation concerned "aggravated money laundering."
"Chief prosecutor Yves Bertossa and members of the financial police conducted a search in the morning of Feb. 27 at the premises of a company owned by Aleksander Yanukovych," prosecutors said. Documents were seized, but the prosecutor said no further details of the investigation would be provided.
Separately, the nation's governing Federal Council, which includes the president and six other ministers, said Friday it has decided to block all assets Yanukovych and his entourage might have in Switzerland, effective immediately.
Through the action, the Council said in a statement that it "wishes to avoid any risk of misappropriation of Ukrainian state assets."
Switzerland has been at pains to prevent foreign leaders from using the country's secretive banks as places to hide and launder ill-gotten funds.
In recent years the Alpine nation has frozen accounts linked to former members of the deposed governments in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
6 Ukraine mobilized its army for war on Sunday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade, creating the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
"This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," said Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, head of a pro-Western government that took power when Russian ally Viktor Yanukovich fled last week.
Putin obtained permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not intervene.
Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. On Sunday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, although no shots were fired.
Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council's secretary Andriy Parubiy announced.
The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct a call-up of reserves - theoretically all men up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, though Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for significant numbers of them.
"If President Putin wants to be the president who started the war between two neighboring and friendly countries, between Ukraine and Russia, so: he has reached this target within a few inches. We are on the brink of disaster," Yatseniuk said in televised remarks in English, appealing for Western support.
So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea, but Kiev officials accused Moscow of being behind a pattern of violent protests in other eastern cities as a pretext to launch a wider invasion.
Pro-Moscow demonstrators flew Russian flags on Saturday at government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk. In places they clashed with anti-Russian protesters and guards trying to defend the buildings.
Ukrainian parliamentarian Hrygory Nemyriya, a spokesman to foreign journalists for the new authorities, said the pro-Moscow marchers were sent from Russia. He described a pattern of "Russian citizens in Ukrainian provinces orchestrating the illegal seizure of government buildings".
The worst violence took place in Kharkiv, where scores of people were hurt on Saturday when thousands of pro-Russian activists, some brandishing axe handles and chains, stormed the regional government and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine's new authorities.
In Donetsk, Yanukovich's home city, the local government has called for a referendum on the region's status, a move Kiev says is illegal. A pro-Russian "self-defense" unit, which staged a big protest on Saturday, scheduled another for Sunday.
1 The UCPN (Maoist) is insisting that parties pass legislation on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) before they move on to constitution drafting. The issue of transitional justice has been long been disputed and as a result, has been repeatedly shelved. The Maoist party has for a while now envisioned the TRC as a method of ensuring that their members are not arrested on criminal charges. The party wants all conflict-era cases to be addressed through the TRC, which could then grant amnesties to perpetrators of rights violations
during the conflict. Human rights activists, on the other hand, have long been arguing that the TRC should not have the right to grant amnesty and that the courts should continue prosecuting conflict-era cases independently of the TRC. Activists also argue that the last TRC ordinance gave too much power to the political parties.
The Supreme Court verdict of January on the TRC ordinance offers a standpoint to restart the TRC debate and revise legislation. In a number of ways, the Court’s judgment accords with that of activists. The judgment states that the ordinance grants too much discretionary power to the government and commissioners, not least in forcing victims and perpetrators to reconcile. It states that there should be two commissions as originally planned—a TRC and a Disappearance Commission—rather than just one, as the ordinance stated. The judgment also holds that the ordinance grants too much power to the TRC to grant amnesties and rejects the idea that amnesties can be given for serious crimes. On the other hand, the judgment does not just repeat the arguments of rights activists. In contrast to some arguments from the human rights community, the judgment mentions that the TRC can grant amnesties in specific cases and has said that criteria for amnesty should be listed in the legislation.
In some ways, therefore, the Court’s judgment mediates the disparate positions of the parties and rights activists. The political parties now need to revise the transitional justice legislation in accordance with the judgment. This should not be such a difficult task and can be accomplished swiftly if political will exists. In the meantime, there needs to be widespread public discussion regarding the functions of the TRC. There is much confusion about this issue in the public sphere and even those in the know have differing interpretations. For example, the specific relationship of the TRC to the criminal justice system when it comes to transitional justice has not been adequately delineated. The parties, activists and victims groups need to come together to resolve such outstanding matters.
2 On Wednesday, a news report in a daily newspaper made grave allegations against social worker Dil Shova Shrestha. The report claimed that Shrestha, who runs the old age home and orphanage Aama Ghar, has been hiring out people under her care as domestic help. The most serious allegations, however, were of the sexual misconduct of children and the elderly. The report cited an audio recording where Shrestha is allegedly heard speaking to a client on the phone, promising that a domestic help will arrive to cook, clean and that “she will sleep with you and will love, love, love you.” The recording was forwarded to the District Administration Office and the Central Child Welfare Board, who have formed a joint team to conduct an investigation. The team discovered that Shrestha had been running the orphanage without a government permit and subsequently took 34 children into protective custody. Shrestha, for her part, unequivocally refuted the charges of sexual misconduct but admitted to not having a permit for the orphanage, only because she didn’t know she required one. But Shrestha should know that ignorance of the law excuses no one.
These allegations are very serious in nature indeed, for Shrestha is a well-known social worker. She had received much attention after being profiled on Kantipur Television’s Dishanirdesh in July last year, prompting donations from the Saarc Chamber Women Entrepreneurs’ Council. Shrestha, who started Aama Ghar after her husband ran out on her and her teenage daughter, is said to be a warm and caring person. She comes across as someone genuinely concerned for the welfare of others, which probably had a lot to do with why the public was so enthusiastic in its support and so dismayed by the allegations. But if these charges are true, Shrestha will have much to answer for. Anecdotal evidence is mixed while the investigation claims that Aama Ghar was often in terrible conditions, filthy with human waste and dirt. But they also assert that the children seemed well-fed, healthy and happy.
Shrestha is a person of repute and the public holds her in high-esteem, which is why the allegations have received so much attention. Is one audio recording enough grounds to allege crimes of such a serious nature? As of yet, there is no other evidence and the investigation has not been completed. So it must be remembered that Shrestha is innocent until proven guilty, especially of the sexual charges. In any case, the controversy has already shed light on the deplorable manner in which the Capital’s numerous orphanages are run; some are little more than moneymaking ventures with orphans as a front. Shrestha’s Aama Ghar too seems to have been run in less-than-desirable conditions. Given the gravity of this issue, it is imperative that the ongoing investigation be conducted in an objective and thorough manner. But until an official report is released, the public, and especially the media, should refrain from jumping to conclusions.